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"Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth
      bared, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last day!"

"I of course have zero evidence for this, but since when has that
      stopped any of us?" <David Wren-Hardin>

"Get your FAQs first, then you can distort 'em as you please." -Mark Twain

"Now, what I want is FAQs. Teach these boys and girls nothing but
FAQs...Plant nothing else, and root out everything else...Stick to
FAQs, sir!" --Charles Dickens, _Hard Times_

THE WOT FAQ WAS LAST UPDATED JANUARY, 1995.

CONTRIBUTORS. Active Contributors & Articles Plundered From:

Dylan Flynn Alexander * Chris Anderson Michael Arnett * Hugh Arai *
Keith Aschinger * Will Baird * Glen Justin Balmer * Chris Barrera *
Kevin Bartlett * Brian Bax * Aaron Bergman * Alice Bergmann * Chris
Bradley * Timothy Bruening * Charles Buckley * Arthur Bernard Byrne *
Paul W.  Cashman * Keith Casner * Christopher Lee Cavender * Randy
Cerveny * Dennis Hohn-Chong Cho * Damien Cole * Amish Dave * Ruchira
Datta * Dave "Walls of Books" DeLaney * Roderick Easton * Eric Ebinger
* Jain Farstrider * J. R. Feehan * Chris Flora * Courtenay Footman *
Jim "Robin Jim" Ford * Michel Forget * Susan Frager * Jeff Fullmer *
Carolyn Fusinato * Christian M. Gadeken * Devin L. "Lews Therin"
Ganger * Bill "Cherry Kool-Aid" Garrett * Helmut Geyer * Judy
Ghirardelli * Bob Gibson * Jocelyn "who is not Kathleen" Goldfein *
Robyn "Hawk" Goldstein * Stephen Graham * Gary Greenbaum * Michael
Guenther * John C. Hansen * Chris Hammock * Michael Hanneman * Stephen
J. Hardy * Don Harlow * John Hawkinson * Mark Hazen * Nathan Hendrix *
Clint Hepner * Captain Commander Sean Hillyard * Bob Hofmann * Melissa
Horn * Justin Howell * Eugene Hung * Matthew Hunter * John Ireland *
Robert Jordan (duh.) * Robert Kelley * Daniel John Kelly-Harrity *
Mark Hazen * David "Wee Dave" Kennedy * Jacob Kesinger * Tanya Koenig
* Pam Korda * Hank Lee * Mike Lemons * Craig Martin Levin * Shen Kiat
Lim * Edward Liu * Mark Looi * Mike "Sir MPS" Macchione * Tom
McCormick * Cameron Majidi * Luke Mankin * Jim Mann * Stephanie Mason
* Roxanne Meida * Kelley Miles * Don Morgan * Joe Morris * David
Mortman * Roy Navarre * Patrick Nielsen Hayden * John S. Novak III *
Emmet O'Brien * Michael J O'Malley * Chad "Oilcan"/"Ba'alzamon" Orzel
* Daniel "Zippy" O'Toole * Anthony Padilla * Rimesh Patel * Simon
Patterson * Emma Pease * Rhonda Peters * Thomas Petersen * George D.
Phillies * Jim Phillips * Piglet * Eric C.  Piquette * Greg Pobst *
Heikki Poso * Jeffrey Scott Raglin * Chris Russo * Erica Sadun * Kevin
Samborn * Jared Samet * Ulrich Schade * Jeff Schneiter * Morgan Donald
Scott * Viren Shah * Joe Shaw * Vivienne Shen * Zach Simpson * Peter
Smalley * Will Smit * Jeff Smith * Michael "Darkelf" Steeves * Brian
Sullivan * Charles L.  Stuart * Martin Terman * Aline Thompson *
Elayne Thompson * Carl Traber * Sven Venema * Jonathan Vessey * Ken
Warkentyne * Bryon Wasserman * Olaf Weber * Dash Wendrzyk * Greg
Wheatley * Windsor Williams * Aaron Wong * Edmund Wong * David
Wren-Hardin * Tony Yoder * Tony Zbaraschuk *

(Did I forget anyone? Is anyone on here twice? Anybody with a name
starting with Q , U, or X want to contribute?)

KEEPER OF THE CHRONICLES: Pam Korda <[e-mail]>
                          (Ca veut dire, the FAQ-keeper)

REFERENCE CHECKERISSIMO DUDE: Joe Shaw (Official Net Jordan Librarian),
               <[e-mail]>

KEEPER OF THE FLAME OF TAR FTP: Viren R. Shah <[e-mail]
               FAQ available by anonymous ftp. to ftp.cc.gatech.edu
               /pub/people/viren/jordan/ There's all sorts of fun
               stuff there besides the FAQ, so check it out.

MOTHER OF THE FAQ: Erica Sadun <[e-mail]>. She is retired,
        but she started the thing, so you probably shouldn't call her
        a non-entity.

WWW HOME PAGE: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ftp/people/viren/www/jordan.html
     html conversion by Helmut Geyer <[e-mail]>

REC.ARTS.SF.WRITTEN.ROBERT-JORDAN FAQ:  Posted regularly to r.a.sf.w.r-j,
     news.answer and rec.answers, and archived at rtfm.mit.edu in
     directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/sf/robert-jordan-faq it
     contains general newsgroup information, general author info,
     release dates, etc.  Please read this document first if you
     are new to rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan. Keeper is Joe Shaw
     <[e-mail]>

[NB: 'Survey Says' sections are from the 3rd Annual Novak-Ghirardelli Survey
       (spring 1995). Sample size: 224 responses. discrepancies in % totals
       are due to people not giving an answer for the question.]

[NB:  Standard Reference Format:
<Book Abbr.: Chapter #, paperback pg#, Chapter name, hard cover pg#>]

ACRONYMS
TWoT/WOT     = The Wheel of Time
TEotW/EOW    = The Eye of the World
TGH          = The Great Hunt
TDR          = The Dragon Reborn
TSR          = The Shadow Rising
TFoH/FOH     = The Fires of Heaven
LoC          = Lord of Chaos
FAQ          = WMAK, Wonderful Masterpiece of Assembled Knowledge,
           but FAQ is easier to say (and makes for better puns)
r.a.sf.w     = rec.arts.sf.written (also just "rasfw")
r.a.sf.w.r-j = rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (also just "rasfwrj")
AOL          = Age of Legends
AS           = Aes Sedai (or Amyrlin Seat)
Asm          = Asmodean
BA           = Black Ajah
DO           = Dark One
DF           = Darkfriend
DFS/DS       = Darkfriend Social
DotNM        = Daughter of the Nine Moons
Eg/Egw       = Egwene
El           = Elayne
Ish/Ishy     = Ishamael
LTT          = Lews Therin Telamon
Mog/Moggy    = Moghedien
Mo/Moi/Moir  = Moiraine
MPS          = Mad Passionate Sex, Mad Purple Stegosaurus
MT           = Mazrim Taim
Ny/Nyn       = Nynaeve
OP           = One Power
RJ           = Robert Jordan
SG           = Shayol Ghul
SS           = Siuan Sanche
T'A'R/TAR    = Tel'aran'rhiod
TS           = True Source
TV           = Tar Valon
WCs          = Whitecloaks
WOs          = Wise Ones
WT           = White Tower
YKYBRTMRJW   = You Know You've Been Reading Too Much Robert Jordan When...

CONTENTS: (* = new this FAQ, + updated this FAQ, - same as last FAQ)

ADMINISTRIVIA
- 0.0  Contents/Acronyms Section
+ 0.1  FAQ introduction.
- 0.2  What are these Jordan Wheel of Time Books?
- 0.3  Mis-steps. (Errors along the way)
- 0.4  What should I do if I've become obsessed?
- 0.5  What's the deal with these shoddy Tor covers that keep falling off?
- 0.6  The RJ Hoax/The Great Hoax
- 0.7  Who Is Robert Jordan, Really? What else has he written?
+ 0.8  Other "Resources"
- 0.9  What is TAN?

1.0  ALL ANSWERS GREAT AND SMALL
  - 1.1  Who was Beidomon?
  - 1.2  Is Thom Elayne and Gawyn's real father?
  - 1.3  Why do we think that Thom will marry Moiraine?
  - 1.4  Why is Moiraine not dead?
  - 1.5  What was up with Gawyn during the coup?
  - 1.6  Who will marry Mat?
  - 1.7  Who will take Callandor from the Stone? (Logain stuff)
  + 1.8  How does Mat's medallion work?
  - 1.9  Why isn't Elaida Black?
  - 1.10 What is up with Lan, Myrelle, Nynaeve, etc?
  - 1.11 The death of Asmodean.
  - 1.12 Kari Al'Thor--What do we know about her?
  - 1.13 Is Aram a Darkfriend?
  - 1.14 What's up with Mat and the dice Ter'angreal?
  - 1.15 Is Aviendha pregnant?
  - 1.16 Where is Gaidal Cain now?
  - 1.17 What are the Seanchan up to?
  - 1.18 Is Ishamael still alive?
  - 1.19 Tigraine == Shaiel (Rand's mum): an analysis
  - 1.20 Slayer (Isam & Luc)
  - 1.21 The Severed Hand
  - 1.22 The Green Man and the Song (Who is the Green Man, What is the Song,
          Who will find the Song, Who were the Aiel?)
  - 1.23 Verin: Black, Brown, or Purple?
  - 1.25 Why Lanfear may be Good (not just in bed, Roy)
  - 1.26 What's up in Saldaea?
  - 1.27 Who was Mat (in his past lives)?
  - 1.28 Where have we seen ironic foreshadowing?
  - 1.29 Why are we sure that Ba'alzamon is really Ishamael?
  - 1.30 When was Rand's Power Acquisition Fever Syndrome?
  - 1.31 Sad Bracelets, Mazrim Taim/Logain
  - 1.32 Is Mat still linked to the Horn?
  - 1.33 Thought and Memory: Take Two
  - 1.34 More of the Fain
  - 1.35 Jain "McGuffin" Farstrider
  - 1.36 Who was "Silvie?"
  - 1.37 Who ordered Melindhra?
  - 1.38 Why Moiraine is not Black Ajah
  - 1.39 Can Thom Channel?
  - 1.40 Is Sheriam Black Ajah?
  - 1.41 Who is not a Darkfriend?
  - 1.42 Who are Aran'gar and Osan'gar?
  + 1.43 Is Mazrim Taim really Mazrim Taim?
  - 1.44 Who is Mesaana?
  - 1.45 "LTT"--Is he for real, or is Rand loony?
  - 1.46 Why did Sammael claim he had a truce w/ Rand?
  * 1.47 Who will be the New Dreadlords?
  * 1.48 Who is the "one who is no longer"?
  * 1.49 Shadar Haran, Superfade.

2.0 WORLD STUFF: Randland history & geography, Power mechanics,
                 Character facts, etc.
  - 2.1  The Old Tongue
  - 2.2  What was the Tamyrlin?
  * 2.3  How does Balefire Work? Why doesn't somebody just BF the DO?
  - 2.4  The Seven Seals
  - 2.5  Who's Who in the Families?
  - 2.6  How old is everyone?
  - 2.7  What does each Ajah do (and want)?
  - 2.8  Geography of Randland
  - 2.9  Is there Religion in Randland?
  - 2.10 Who are the Forsaken? Where are they & what are they doing?
  - 2.11 All the Aes Sedai
  - 2.12 Who are the Aelfinn & Eelfinn?
  - 2.13 What are the Songs (not >the< Song)
  - 2.14 What are them icons?
  - 2.15 What did Ogier do of old?
  - 2.16 Were there Ajahs in the Age of Legends?
  * 2.17 Was the Sharom the Dark One's Prison?
  - 2.18 What is the difference between Skimming & Traveling?
  - 2.19 What's up w/the male-female a'dam link where they both die screaming?
  - 2.20 What are those black threads on the forsaken?
  - 2.21 Binding--what's up with that?
  - 2.22 Did LTT balefire himself?
  - 2.23 How Tall is Everybody?
  - 2.24 Where did Artur Hawkwing come from?
  * 2.25 What do Dreamers/Dreamwalkers do?
  * 2.26 Can Black Ajah break the Oaths?
  * 2.27 Where do Trollocs & Myrddraal come from?
  * 2.28 What is the range on sensing other Channelers?

3.0  TRIVIAL PURSUITS:  References, Sources, Allusions, Parallels, etc.
  - 3.1  Arthur and the Holy Grail
  - 3.2  Trolloc Tribes
  - 3.3  Is the world of Rand a future Earth?
  + 3.4  Christian Parallels
  - 3.5  Various Names
  - 3.6  Dragon Legends
  - 3.7  Norse Mythology
  - 3.8  Stedding & China
  * 3.9  Native American stuff
  + 3.10 Miscellaneous References

4.0  IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME, BABY
     Timeline (not actually in here)

5.0  HANGIN' LOOSE
     Loose Threads: Unresolved Stuff

6.0  SOME "SWEET" COVER ART:
     What is it with those stupid Darrell Sweet Covers?

7.0  PROPHECIES:  Everything you wanted to know about the future, but
            were afraid to ask.
  - 7.1  Egwene's Dreams
  - 7.2  Min's Viewings
  - 7.3  Various Prophecies
  - 7.4  Dark Prophecy
  - 7.5  The prophecies of the Dragon.
  - 7.6  Perrin's Dreams
  * 7.7  Fourth Age Histories

99.0  PUBLISHING STUFF
 - 99.1  How many books will there be?
 + 99.2  When Is The Next Book Out?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

0.0==============================ADMINISTRIVIA==============================

0.1..............................................Introduction to this FAQ

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

The Wheel of Time FAQ contains writing by many authors.  The
individual authors hold copyright to their respective contributions,
as cited in the text.  The Wheel of Time books, and all quotations
therefrom, are (c) Robert Jordan.  Unattributed material is (c) Pamela
Korda and Erica Sadun.

  This is the Wheel of Time Wondrous Masterpiece of Assembled
  Knowledge (aka Frequently-Asked Questions list). 'Tis edited,
  and maintained, by myself, Pamela Korda, based upon
  discussion of The Wheel of Time series, on the Usenet group
  rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan. You may feel free to distribute
  this document, provided all citations and attributions are kept.
  This version of the FAQ contains lots of SPOILERS for _Lord of Chaos_,
  so if you haven't  read, don't read. There are versions of the FAQ
  from before LOC (i.e. no spoilers, but some out-dated theories) in the ftp
  archive and the WWW page.

  rasfwr-j is a very high-volume group, with about 100-200 messages
  posted each day. In order to keep things reasonable, this huge
  compendium has been created. It chronicles all the "old, discussed to
  death" topics, so that people do not have to keep bringing up the same
  old points again and again. In light of this, please read this
  document before you go posting all your new theories. If you don't
  have time to read the whole thing through, that is okay. It is in
  electronic form, which means you can use your favorite word processor,
  text editor, grep, &c, to scan it for keywords. There is also a
  handy-dandy Table of Contents, a few screens up from here. If you have
  an idea on Tigraine, for example, search for "Tigraine," and read what
  has already been written. This way, if you agree with what has been
  said before, you don't need to waste time saying it again. If you
  disagree, you know the points that need to be taken into consideration
  when you present your theory to the net. It is to your own benefit to
  keep this thing handy for such a purpose.

  Here's what other people have to say about the WOTFAQ:

  "When I came on and asked a dumb question not too long ago, I had
  people tell me to read the FAQ.  I protested the tone with which they
  told me, but I went and did it anyway.  And you know what?  After a
  couple months of participation, I *AGREE* with those
  people."<D.L. "Lews Therin" Ganger>

This version of the FAQ has been updated to include the results of the
Third Ghirardelli-Novak Survey (post-LOC). New sections have been
added on "Who will be the new dreadlords?" "Who is the 'one who is no
longer'?" "Shadar Haran, Superfade" "How does Balefire work?" "Was the
Sharom the DO's Prison?" "What do Dreamers/Dreamwalkers do?" "Can BA
break the Oaths?" "Where do Trollocs come from" and "What is the range
on sensing channeling?". I have re-arranged the general questions
section into two parts: Plot stuff (section 1) and World Stuff (sec.
2). The distinction is a bit arbitrary, but I think I did a good job.
Please note the new ftp/www site, the new address for Angreal MOO, and
the new fan club pointer, which has a bit more info on Carolyn's Wheel
of Time Club than before, as well as new information of a fan club of
which I just recently learned about, the Robert Jordan/Wheel of Time
Club, all in the "other resources" section.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+
Other Submission Requests:
  [What topics have been discussed to death and should I include as
  'calls-for-submission' for next month?]
  [Please help fill out the countries of Randland--Sea Folk,
    Aiel, Seanchan, Shara]

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

 0.2...............................WHAT ARE THESE JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME BOOKS?

 The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan:

 Hardcover editions:
     THE EYE OF THE WORLD     ISBN 0-312-85009-3, $24.95
     THE GREAT HUNT      ISBN 0-312-85140-5, $22.95
     THE DRAGON REBORN   ISBN 0-312-85248-7, $22.95
     THE SHADOW RISING   ISBN 0-312-85431-5, $24.95
     THE FIRES OF HEAVEN ISBN 0-312-85427-7, $25.95
     LORD OF CHAOS       ISBN 0-312-85428-5, $25.95

 Paperback editions:
     THE EYE OF THE WORLD     ISBN 0-812-51181-6, $5.99 ($6.99 CAN)
     THE GREAT HUNT      ISBN 0-812-51772-5, $5.99 ($6.99 CAN)
     THE DRAGON REBORN   ISBN 0-812-51371-1, $5.99 ($6.99 CAN)
     THE SHADOW RISING   ISBN 0-812-51373-8, $6.99 ($7.99 CAN)
     THE FIRES OF HEAVEN ISBN 0-812-50974-9

 Published by Tor Books

 Ask for them at your favorite bookstore, or order the paperback editions
 directly from:

 Publishers Book and Audio Mailing Service
 PO Box 120159
 Staten Island NY 10312-0004

 To cover postage and handling, add $1.25 for the first book and $.25 for
 each additional book.  Check or money order only; no CODs.


 If you are in Europe, it may be more expedient to pick up the British
 Editions published by Orbit (prices are listed in pounds sterling).

     THE EYE OF THE WORLD     ISBN 1-85723-076-0 (L5.99)
     THE GREAT HUNT      ISBN 1-85723-027-2 (L5.99)
     THE DRAGON REBORN   ISBN 1-85723-065-5 (L5.99)
     THE SHADOW RISING   ISBN 1-85723-121-X (L5.99)
     THE FIRES OF HEAVEN ISBN 1-85723-209-7 (L5.99)

 0.3.........................................MIS-STEPS (ERRORS ALONG THE WAY)

  >>THE EYE OF THE WORLD<<

  *It seems to me that early in the first volume Jordan took some time to
  decide whether the marsh-forest in the east of the Two Rivers was the
  Riverwood or the Waterwood. <Don Harlow>

  *In TEotW, Thom teaches Mat and Rand to juggle.  By the time they reach
  Caemlyn Mat can perform "six ball circles", which I interpreted as a
  six-ball shower.  No way.  You could probably count the number of people
  in the world today who can shower six balls to a performance standard on
  the fingers of one hand.  Assuming there are any.  I've only twice seen
  a five ball shower done well.  <David Mortman, others>

  RE::Jain Farstrider:
  From <TEotW: Glossary, 790, entry "Farstrider, Jain", 663> Farstrider
  "vanished in 994 NE, after returning from a trip into the Great Blight
  which some say had taken him all the way to Shayol Ghul." While <TDR:
  Glossary, 696, entry "Travels of Jaim Farstrider, the", 593> says that
  he disappeared shortly after the Aiel War, which is about 20 years ago.

  Note that even in TEotW, all other indications are that Farstrider
  disappeared 20 years ago, just after the Aiel war: Ba'alzamon tells
  Rand <TEotW: 51, 760, Against the Shadow, 638> "Jain Farstrider, a
  hero, whom I painted like a fool and sent to the Ogier thinking he
  was free of me."  The man that Loial said came to Stedding Shangtai
  telling them the story about blinding the Eye of the World came just
  after the Aiel War. 'Twould seem to be Farstrider since Ba'alzamon's
  comments followed a reference to the Aiel that told the story to the
  Tuatha'an. So, it seems that the 994 number is wrong. <Joe Shaw>

* Q: What about those Warders in Caemlyn around Logain in tEotW?
Didn't Moiraine say that they were all Red sisters?  Reds don't
have Warders!  <TEotW: 42, 637-8, Remembrance of Dreams, 535>
RJ answer, as reported by Tony Z: Moiraine never
mentioned the sisters escorting Logain (not all of whom were Red).
The ones with Logain weren't in Caemlyn at the time [evidently they
stayed with the army, which stayed outside the city--TZ].  Moiraine
was referring to those that _were_ in Caemlyn.

  >>THE GREAT HUNT<<

  *Ba'alzamon's goals: <TGH: 47, 665, The Grave Is No Bar To My Call, 563>
  "But this time I will destroy you to your very soul, destroy you utterly
  and forever." Maybe he forgot <TGH: 41, 588, Disagreements, 497> "Fool!
  You will destroy yourself!" where he stopped Rand from burning himself
  out. Ba'alzamon is either forgetful, confused, or trying to appear so.
  <Morgan Donald Scott>

  *Why does Moiraine wear her great serpent ring on her left hand in <TEotW:
  2, 27, Strangers, 22-3> and <TDR: 3, 58, News from the Plain, 26> and on
  her right hand in <TGH: 4, 46, Summoned, 39>? I can think of four possible
  reasons:
     a) a cunning plan by Jordan to make us believe sweet,
        innocent Moiraine was at the Darkfriend social.
     b) Moiraine has an evil, identical twin sister who wears
        her ring on the other hand.
     c) It's Moiraine's ring and she can wear it on whatever
        hand she damn well pleases.
     d) none of the above. <Damien Cole>

  *When Rand returns Thom's harp and flute to the gleeman in Cairhien,
  Thom grumbles: "You could at least have kept it (the harp) in tune"
  <TGH: 26, 384, Discord, 323> For travel, harps (and many other stringed
  instruments) are ALWAYS detuned -- the tension on the strings is
  reduced to prevent string wear and possible snapping.<Erica Sadun>


  >>THE DRAGON REBORN<<

  *In <TDR: 6, 99, The Hunt Begins, 63>, the beginning at-camp scene,
  Perrin tells Min that he loves her like a sister--and that he has no
  sisters of his own.  In <TSR: 29, 466, Homecoming, 333>, his two
  sisters and his brother are killed.<Erica Sadun>

  <TDR: 33, 375, Within the Weave, 295> "This road of hard-packed dirt,
  already called the Lugard Road now that they were approaching the River
  Manetherendrelle and the border of Lugard, had been paved once . . . "
  Lugard is a city, not a country, and is the capital of Murandy (to the
  extent that disorganized country has one).  Since the city does not
  lie near that River, I doubt a province or such is meant.<Gary Greenbaum>

  <TDR: 41, 477, A Hunter's Oath, 388>  Perrin is remembering a confrontation
  between Moiraine and Zarine.  "Once she learned the girl thought they would
  lead her to the Horn of Valere, ...then her cold blue stare had taken on a
  quality that made him feel he had been packed ..."  Which left me wondering
  whose cold blue stare?  Both Moir. and Zarine have dark eyes.<Aline Thompson>
  The quote continues "The Aes Sedai said nothing, but she stared too often
  and too hard for any comfort.", implying that it refers to Moiraine.<JoeS>
  <TEotW: 2, 26, Strangers, 22> <TGH: 4, 45, Summoned, 38>, <TDR: 6, 90, The
  Hunt Begins, 55>, <TSR: 3, 99, Reflection, 71> and <TFoH: 2,95, Rhuidean, 68>
  all describe Moiraine as having "dark eyes", and <TDR: 33, 386, Within the
  Weave, 319>, <TDR: 35, 402, The Falcon, 333>, and <TSR: 2, 54, Whirlpools
  in the Pattern, 40> describe Faile as having "dark, tilted eyes".

  *Metallurgy Mistake, from John Palmer & Don Harlow
      Maybe others have noted this metallurgy mistake, as a engineer this
      bugged me. In the Dragon Reborn, when Perrin takes a day at the
      Smithy, he notes the three quenching media: "As soon as he had made
      the hot-cut, he tossed the glowing metal into the salted quenching
      barrel. Unsalted gave a harder quench, for the hardest metal, while the
      oil gave the softest, for good knives." <TDR: 50, 595, The Hammer, 506>
      Wrong.
      In order of resultant hardness, it goes Oil, Water, Salt Water. with
      Salt water yielding the hardest blade because of best heat transfer
      and higher boiling point than plain water. Oil is softer because of
      slower heat transfer but is commonly used for cutlery because it causes
      less thermal stresses and a tougher blade. (won't break from shock)
      Salt water quench is definitely a harder quench than fresh water. Its
      due to the higher boiling point of salt water precluding the formation
      of an insulating vapor layer over the steel which slows heat transfer
      from the steel to the water.

  *Hey, what's the scoop with Shadowman steel?  First, Thom Merrilin runs into
  a Fade and it left him "a little present of a stiff leg." Then
  after the fight where the Aiel come to the rescue of the girls: <TDR:
  39, 455, Threads in the Pattern, 382> "Shadowman steel kills,"
  Aviendha said, "it does not wound."  Finally, Rand's thought
  while fighting a Fade: <TSR: 10, 188, The Stone Stands, 132> "That
  black metal could make wounds that festered, almost as hard to heal as
  the one that ached in his side now." Is there something that I'm
  missing, like it just kills Aiel, or does this qualify as a Jordan
  mis-step?<Dash Wendrzyk> {NB: the obvious explanation is that the Fade
  did not stick Thom with its sword; the Fade just hit him, or something
  --Pam}

  Jain Farstrider's first name is spelled as Jaim throughout the book,
  when its spelled as Jain in TEotW, TGH, and TSR.  <Joe "Uno" Shaw>

  >>THE SHADOW RISING<<

  *Typographical Errors:
     <TSR: 8,  Hard Heads, 111>
     Elayne states that "she had let go of saidin as soon as Egwene
     stood to leave."  It should be saidar. [Fixed in the PB version.]

     <TSR: 16, 262-4, Leavetakings, 183-5>
     Loial mentions an Ogier named Laefar from Stedding Shangtai who
     is in Tear, but later calls him Faelar a page later.

     <TSR: 33, 539, A New Weave in the Pattern, 377>
     Perrin calls Tam Al'Thor "Master Al'Vere"; Master Al'Vere being
     miles away at that time. <Courtenay Footman>

     <TSR: 35, 576, Sharp Lessons, 401>
     "Egwene realized Nynaeve's blankets were empty."  Unfortunately,
     at this particular time, Nynaeve was in Tanchico with Elayne.  It
     should be Moiraine's blankets that are empty.  <Jeff Smith>

     <TSR: 54, 913, Into the Palace, 633>
     "If only Egwene had not run into any trouble, they might make it
     out of here [the Panarch's Palace] safely after all."  It should
     be Elayne instead of Egwene.

  *<TSR: 47, The Trust of a Viewing, 531>  During the Tower Coup, Siuan's
  Warder gets killed.  She doesn't notice until she sees his dead body.
  <Michael Hanneman> [Perhaps she was shielded before he died?]

  >>THE FIRES OF HEAVEN<<

  *In TFoH, on the Cover, we are told that "FLAIDA" (sic) is now Amyrlin.

  *Something very strange happened between 10 and 20 years ago. In
  <TGH: 4, 58, Summoned, 49>  the Amyrlin says to Moiraine "I am the fifth
  in a row raised to the Amyrlin Seat from the Blue." Two pages earlier, we
  learn that Siuan Sanche has been Amyrlin for ten years. In <TFoH: 15, 301,
  What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214>, Moiraine says to Egwene:  "In a few
  months it will be twenty-one years since we began the search for the Dragon
  Reborn. Sieren Vayu was raised to Amyrlin shortly after, a Gray with more
  than a touch of Red in her." Were there really SEVEN different
  Amyrlins in the space of a dozen years?  (The Blue who held the seat
  when Rand was born, Vayu, and then the five Blues who ended with Siuan
  Sanche.)  Or is this just a Jordan mistake?<Courtenay Footman>

  *In <TFoH: 36, 578, A New Name, 409>, Birgitte tells Elayne "You saved my
  life, Daughter-Heir of Andor.  I will keep your secret and serve you as
  Warder."  But later in <TFoH: 47, 775-6, The Price of a Ship, 550>
  Birgitte verbally scolds Elayne for telling Cerandin she was heir to a
  throne, and doesn't believe it until Nynaeve makes an offhand comment
  in <TFoH: 49, 803, To Boannda, 570>.

  *Rand balefires Rahvin, erasing his actions, etc.  However, none of Rand's
  injuries, all sustained at the hands of Rahvin, disappear--they were in-
  stead Healed by Nynaeve afterwards. <TFoH: 55, 949, The Threads Burn, 672-3>
  <Sean Hillyard> [Arguably an effect of either Tel'aran'rhiod or balefire.]

LORD OF CHAOS

  Arguably the most humorous error yet: Perrin picks up a second horse
which he calls "Stayer" <LoC: 54, The Sending, 677>.  On the way to the
Battle at Dumai's Wells, Perrin has both his horses, referred to, at one
point, as "Stepper" and "Slayer" <LoC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 685>.

In previous glossaries, it says that the AS cannot sense in what
direction her Warder is. In LOC, Alanna does just that. What gives?
Edward Liu says that, at a signing, RJ said that the ability is not
exact, but something like they can only sense distance (and I guess)
direction in that the feeling of the other person becomes stronger or
weaker. Tony Z. said RJ said the Glossaries are in error, and that
there are references in other books to AS sensing the direction of
their Warders. (Anybody find such a thing? I can't think of one). Joe
thinks RJ changed his mind, to put it charitably.


 0.4........................................WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I'M OBSESSED?
<Judy Ghirardelli>
  Judy G. gives us intelligent advice on treatment of Jordan fanaticism:

  1.  Stop calling the nice lady at you local bookstore, and
      harassing her about when the next book will be out.

  2.  Lay down.

  3.  Stay laying down.

  4.  Try to not think about things like wheels, knives, spears,
      swords, doorways, Piglets, fire, severed hands, plucked out
      eyes, tattoos, leashes, calendars, irons, pincers, still images,
      gentle breezes, FAQs, Towers, wolves, falcons, hawks, hammers,
      axes, Roy, and lastly, DON'T THINK ABOUT RIVERS!

  5.  Now, pick up a copy of _The Tao of Pooh_ and become an uncarved block.

  (p.s. that will be 50 bucks...)
  (p.p.s. The idea of not thinking about Roy while laying down
  is just a generally good practice , and might be applied to all
  the rest of you who won't admit you have a problem ...)


 0.5.........WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THOSE CHEAP TOR COVERS THAT WON'T STAY ON?
<Eric Ebinger>

  No, you are not alone in having the cover fall off of your PB copy of TDR.
  What can you do about it?  Patrick Nielsen Hayden says that you can send the
  book to Tor, and they will send you a new copy. You can also write a (snail-
  mail) letter of complaint to Tor. The address is on the inside of the books.
  DO NOT SEND MEAN E-MAIL TO THE NICE TOR BOOKS MAN!!!! IT IS NOT HIS FAULT!!!
  If you want to repair them yourself, Eric Ebinger provides instructions:

  Materials needed:

  dry sandpaper 220 grit
  Walthers Goo (available at finer model train stores everywhere)
  one or more Wheel of Time books, Tor edition with loose or detached covers

  1.  If cover(s) are not yet completely detached GENTLY and carefully detach
       them.  A small, sharp knife may be helpful.

  2. Take sandpaper and briskly sand the back of spine of the book (on the
       glue that failed to hold.  Continue until the surface is slightly
       rough (don't over-sand).  This should only take 10-20 seconds of
       sanding.

  3. Lay the cover down on a flat surface with the outside DOWN.  Gently sand
       the inside of the binding (where the spine of the book would be,
          if the book was still in its cover) until the wax coating is
       removed.  Do not over-sand!  The objective is to remove the wax
       coating so that the glue can get a grip.

  4. Following directions on the package of Goo, spread glue on the binding
       area of the cover.  Orient the book so that it's orientation
       matches that of the cover.  Press the book binding down on the cover,
       lift,wait two minutes,press the book binding back down on the cover,
       and hold for two minutes.

  5. Let dry overnight.  The book should be better than new.


 0.6................................THE GREAT JORDAN HOAX--READ THIS SECTION!
<P. Korda, Joe Shaw>

 In March, 1994, a bunch of net.jordanites met in a small restaurant in
 Arlington, VA. Collectively, they hatched a scheme to spread chaos and
 confusion throughout the internet, and other nets. They were six of
 the most powerful posters ever known, who went over to the Dark One.
 Their names--Bill "the Fain" Garrett, Chad "Ba'alzamon" Orzel, Joe
 "Sammael" Shaw, Mike "Rahvin" Macchione, Judy "Mesaana" Ghirardelli,
 and Joe "Demandred" Morris--should be used to frighten children.  As a
 result of their crimes, much false evidence was generated.  Following
 is a summary of their false claims as to what Jordan said.

 Remember--ROBERT JORDAN NEVER SAID ANY SUCH THING:

  1) Somebody close to Rand will turn to the Dark Side.
  2) There are clues in: _The Westing Game_, "What Lies Hidden," "The Gift
     of a Blade," "The Tinker's Sword."
  3) RJ thinks we should get our own newsgroup.
  4) RJ will put a character like Roy in the next book.
  5) Anything about Cain, Jain, Tam, or Graendal's old man.
  6) Aram is a Darkfriend (and was at the DFS in TGH).
  7) There are hidden references to Conan in The Wheel of Time.
  8) RJ said "Verin is more than just a simple, absent-minded librarian."
  9) Thom is Elaynes ' father.
 10) RJ will wrap up the series in the book after _Lord of Chaos_.
 11) Mazrim Taim is somebody we have already seen, sort of (and related
     theories that Taim == Demandred, Taim killed Asmodean.)
 12) Thom, Aviendha, Bela, & Marin Al'Vere are not what they seem.
 13) Aviendha == Ilyena reborn.
 14) Mat's memories are not real, but the ravings of a madman.
 15) Mat and Tam can channel.
 16) He would add a reference to our USENET discussions into a later book.
 17) Jordan wants to put himself in there somewhere (ala Hitchcock).
 18) Thought the lightbulb and telephone jokes were a hoot.
 19) likes the cover art

0.7.....................Who is Robert Jordan, and what else has he written?

"Robert Jordan" is actually a pseudonym for James Oliver Rigney, Jr.,
under which he has written the "Wheel of Time" fantasy series as well
as several books of the "Conan" series. (Conan the Invincible, C.t.
Unconquered, C.t.Magnificent, C.t.Victorious, C.t.Triumphant,
C.t.Destroyer, C.t.Defender) Other pseudonyms are Reagan O'Neal (_The
Fallon Blood_, _The Fallon Pride_, _The Fallon Legacy_), Jackson
O'Reilly (_Cheyenne Raiders_), and Chang Lung (contributions to
various periodicals including Library Journal, Fantasy Review, Science
Fiction Review).  [Source: Contemporary Authors vol. 140]

RJ has told several people, at signings and in letters, that if^H^H
when he complete TWOT, he plans to write another fantasy tale set in a
Seanchan-like culture. The main character will be a more mature figure
than Rand, and the tale involves him being shipwrecked in
pseudo-Seanchan, where whatever is cast up on the shores of one's
estate becomes one's property, even people. Doubtlessly, there'll be
many changes from RJ's description to the actual story, but it gives
us something to look forward to.

0.8.........................................................OTHER RESOURCES
Non-net stuff:

o Issue 4 of the Waldenbooks 'zine _Hailing Frequencies_ had a little
interview with RJ. (I believe this was pre-FOH)

o Nov 1994 Issue of the B. Dalton 'zine had an interview with RJ.

o FAN CLUBS: If netting isn't fannish enough for you, there are at least
two RJ-sanctioned Wheel of Time Fan Clubs.

   The Robert Jordan/Wheel of Time Fan Club is a snailmail club. They have
   a bimonthly newsletter, _Threads_. For more information, email "Shosh"
   at <[e-mail]>, see http://info.cs.vt.edu/~joeshaw/rjwotfc.html,
   or write to:
    Robert Jordan/Wheel of Time Fan Club
     P.O. Box 510744
    St. Louis, MO 63121

   The Wheel of Time Club is a net and snailmail club. They have a
   newsletter, "The Chronicles." For more info, email Carolyn Fusinato
   at <[e-mail]> or <[e-mail]>, see
   http://bongo.cc.utexas.edu/~moiraine/wotclub.html, or write to:
    The Wheel of Time Club
    P.O. Box 223022
    Chantilly, VA 22022-3022

Net Stuff: Available by ftp from ftp.cc.gatech.edu, directory
     /pub/people/viren/jordan

o Old WOTFAQs, by month. The first LOC FAQ is November 1994. All the
previous ones have no LOC Spoilers.

o The Dark One's Dictionary--a spoof of the WOT Glossaries by Bill
Garrett & Joe Shaw. Very funny.

o jack-o-shadows.au--Erica Sadun's production of Mat's theme song.

o some trivia quizzes

o old.tongue.guide--glossary of Old Tongue phrases

o second.survey.results--results of the Usenet Novak-Ghirardelli
survey of plot predictions, pre-LOC.

o Wheel of Time fanfic

{?}o /pub/jordan/ATWT--Ken Kofman's on-line WoT-based RPG.

{?}o /pub/jordan/jordanites--gifs  [revised to pngs -- ed.] & jpegs
of rasfwrj personalities, among other things

{?}/pub/jordan/Wotclub--stuff about the Wheel of Time fanclub, and other
stuff from there, such as:

  o charlist.txt--list of characters (I don't know how up-to-date it is)

  o fan art of WOT characters

More Net Stuff: WWW, MUDs, MOOs, etc.

o WWW Jordan homepage: http://ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/people/viren/jordan
  (maintained by Helmut Geyer)

o WWW WoT Club Home Page: http://bongo.cc.utexas.edu/~moiraine/wotclub.html
  (maintained by Carolyn Fusinato.)

o MUDs, etc: fly.ccs.yorku.ca 4201 (Tales of Ta'veren MUSH)
             sarcazm.resnet.cornell.edu 9000 (ANGREAL-MOO)
             Xtreme.aac.iit.edu 9000 (New home of ANGREAL-MOO)
             hub.eden.com 6969 (Age of Legends)
             128.153.32.10 9000 (Sanctuary)
             ulantris.csci.unt.edu 4000 (Eternity of Discord)
      {as reported by others. I have not attempted to verify any
                of them. --Korda}

o IRC: there is an IRC channel #WoT.

0.9....................................................WHAT DOES "TAN" MEAN?

1) TANgent (SINe over COSine)
2) The Ajah who applies ruthless logic to quests after knowledge.
3) The color Bela is.
4) Oh, you mean wrt rec.arts.sf.written.r-j? Get thee to a
   rasfwr-j FAQ, then!

1.0===================USEFUL INFORMATION (SHORT ANSWERS)====================

 1.1........................................................WHO WAS BEIDOMON?

 1) One of the male Forsaken
 2) Somebody who is dead.
 3) LTT (Why? From <TEotW: Prologue, xv, Dragonmount, xv>: "he who brought
    the shadow...they named Dragon." Was lover of Mierin/Lanfear at some
    point, maybe when the Bore was created. And, <TEotW: 4, 51, The Gleeman,
    44> "I will tell you of the end of the Age of Legends, of the Dragon,
    and of his attempt to free the Dark One into the world of men." But,
    then again, why would LTT have another name?)

    Why LTT is not Beidomon:
    It would have adversely affected him after the war broke out.  Secondly,
    he had likely left Lanfear long before and married Ilyena by that time.
    At Cairhien <TFoH: 52, 889, Choices, 629> he does say that he was never
    Lanfear's.  He also says that he had long before lost whatever interest
    in he had her. <TFoH: 6, 172, Gateways, 123>

 4) Bayle Domon--No reason, except the names sound the same.

Survey Says: Who was Beidomon?
    Nobody we know:      66% (147)   Lews Therin: 2% (4)
    One of the Forsaken: 12%  (24)   Bayle Domon: 1% (2)


1.2...........................WHY MAY THOM HAVE FATHERED ELAYNE AND/OR GAWYN

 Elayne denies that Galad is her brother.  Thom was around at the right time.
 Thom clearly had something to do with Taringail's disappearance. Thom was
 Morgase's lover. In <TFoH: 19, 356, Memories, 252>, Morgase thinks about
 Taringail, and how the only good to come of the marriage were "two beautiful
 children."  This could be Elayne and Gawyn, or she could mean Galad (adopted)
 and Gawyn.

 Evidence from the Glossary: "A Royal Prince of Cairhien, he married
 Tigraine and _fathered_ Galadedrid.  When Tigraine disappeared and was
 declared dead, he married Morgase and _fathered_ Elayne and Gawyn."
 <TEotW: Glossary, 787, entry "Damodred, Prince Taringail", 661>
 Although the glossary entries have been misleading before (e.g.
 Ba'alzamon), I do not think that RJ has ever lied outright in them. I
 personally cannot think of a way that the above could be a sneaky, Aes
 Sedai-like twisting of the truth.

 In <TSR: 17, 277, Deceptions, 194>, Moiraine says Thom was "Morgase's lover
 for a time, _after Taringail died_" (emphasis mine). Here, Moiraine
 is trying to impress Thom with how much she knows. She wouldn't
 include a detail she had any doubt about.  To be wrong about something
 in such a situation would indicate faulty research, and Moiraine would
 not risk showing any gap in her knowledge. If she had any doubt at
 all, she wouldn't have mentioned the timing of events. Plus, Thom
 didn't say or think anything to contradict Moiraine's statement.

 If Morgase had been having an affair with Thom while still married to
 Taringail, it is very unlikely that she would have been able to keep it
 entirely under wraps; surely some rumor would have been around, especially
 in Cairhien.  However, we see no evidence of such a rumor existing.
 Specifically, in <LoC: 50, Thorns, 628> when Rand mentions to some
 Cairhienin that he means to have Elayne rule Cairhien, the Cairhienin
 think she'd be a good choice, due to her descent from her father Taringail
 Damodred. Somebody says something like "Taringail's greatest dream was for
 his son to be king of Cairhien and his daughter to be queen of Andor." If
 Morgase was unfaithful, surely there would have been some doubt as to
 Elayne's right to the throne of Cairhien.

In a report from a signing in Seattle, Tony Z. says, "Jordan also
strongly implied that Thom was not Elayne's father."

Survey says:
Is Thom Elayne's da?
     Yes: 29% (66)    No: 62% (140)     Undecided:  8% (18)
Is Thom Gawyn's dad?
     Yes:  9% (20)    No: 80% (179)     Undecided: 11% (25)

1.3...........................WHY DO WE THINK THAT THOM WILL MARRY MOIRAINE?

     Moiraine says she knows the face of the man she will marry better
 than El/Eg/Ny know their future husbands. <TSR: 6, 126, Doorways, 90-1>
 This could mean that she will never marry. The reason that seems unlikely
 is because, according to Elayne, Moiraine had some passion in her voice
 when she mentioned husband, despite her attempts to then brush it off.
 After going through the Tear twisted doorway, which only answers personal
 questions, she immediately tells Thom that he will live through the
 next set of adventures.  Thom keeps referring to Moiraine as a good
 looking woman with more and more sincerity as time progresses and
 discovers he no longer loves Morgase.

 Possible scenario: How would she know who it was?  Being Aes Sedai she'd
 likely have a lot of chances, but here's a guess.  When Min describes
 how her viewings work her standard example is this; I see two people
 who have never met and know they will marry--and of course we had both
 Thom and Moiraine in front of her in Baerlon.  So, this would also be
 the reason why 1) Moiraine was so sure Thom hadn't been killed by a
 Fade, despite Rand's and Mat's protestations, and 2) why she tells Thom
 "I will see you again.  You will survive Tarabon." <TSR: 17, 278, Deceptions,
 195> (After her little trip through Rhuidean she may have decided that
 perhaps Min was wrong and that Lanfear would kill her.) <Sean Hillyard>

 Survey Says:  Will Thom marry Moiraine, if she is alive?
     Yes: 67% (151)     No: 25% (55)    Undecided:  8% (17)

1.4................................................WHY IS MOIRAINE NOT DEAD?

     Well, we don't know what happened after Moiraine & Lanfear fell
     through the twisted doorway into the land of the Foxes.  Lacking such
     information, the only evidence we have is: 1) the breaking of Lan's
     bond, suggesting that she is no longer among the living, and
     2) Egwene's vision <TFoH: 15, 300-1, What Can Be Learned in Dreams,
     214> of Thom pulling Moiraine's blue jewel out of a fire.

     Ruchira Datta says:"One of you would have been bad enough, but two
     *ta'veren* at once - you might have torn the connection entirely and
     been trapped there." <TSR: 15, 255, Into the Doorway, 178-9> This quote
     is the basis for one of the currently held versions of the possible
     fate of Moiraine and Lanfear; just substitute "channeling combatants"
     for "ta'veren".

     More interpretation on Eg's "blue stone" vision:
        Michael Steeves suggests that it could
     possibly mean that Thom will do something to preserve her dream
     of Rand facing the DO alive and well at Tarmon Gai'don.

     In <LoC: Glossary, entry "Moiraine", 710>, it says "She vanished into a
     ter'angreal in Cairhien while battling Lanfear, apparently killing both
     herself and the Forsaken."  That "apparently" definitely leaves the
     question open.

Survey Says:
What happened to Moiraine?
     Alive & unstilled:               38% (85)
     Alive & burnt out (un-healable): 26% (59)
     Alive & stilled:                 17% (39)
     Dead:                             7% (16)

What was in Moiraine's letter to Thom (more than one answer possible):
    info about the Red Ajah who gentled Owyn:  85% (190)
    info on how to rescue her:                 29%  (66)
    lovey gooey stuff:                         28%  (63)

 Survey Says:  Will Thom rescue Moiraine, if she _is_ alive?
    Yes:  83% (187)   No:  1% (3)   Undecided: 5% (12)

1.5..................................WHAT WAS UP WITH GAWYN DURING THE COUP?

 Perhaps he was involuntarily bonded to a Black or to a Forsaken. His eyes
 were glazed and he was not necessarily in control of himself <TSR: 47,
 779-782, The Truth of a Viewing, 539-41>.   Alviarin says with some
 confidence that "Gawyn will be brought under control".  <TFOH: Prologue,
 19, The First Sparks Fall, 17>

 Then again, it is personally reasonable to assume that he was in full
 control of his faculties during the coup. By that time, he had
 developed a good & solid hatred for SS, due to Elayne and Egwene's
 mysterious disappearance.

 From his behavior in LoC, it seems pretty apparent that he acted under his
 own will during the Coup, motivated by grief and anxiety over Elayne and
 Egwene.  He develops a similar fierce hatred for Rand due to the rumors
 that Rand killed Morgase.

1.6......................................................WHO WILL MAT MARRY?

"To marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons!"

 Daughter of the Nine Moons indicates the heir to the throne of the Seanchan.
 This is most likely Tuon, the second daughter of the Seanchan Empress who is
 mentioned by High Lord Turak in Falme. <TGH: 34, 497, The Wheel Weaves, 420>.
 An outside runner is Berelain, who is descended from Hawkwing and
 thus "of the Blood," literally. Part of that theory is that "half the
 light of the world" refers to Mayene being a great supplier of lamp
 oil.

 In Ebou Dar in <LoC: 52, Weaves of the Power, 641>, Mat runs into a Seanchan
 guy who recognizes the name "Daughter of the Nine Moons."  This makes it
 pretty clear that the Daughter of the Nine Moons refers to somebody Seanchan.
 The epilogue makes further clarification <LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 697>:
 "Perhaps the Return would come soon, and the Daughter of the Nine Moons
 with it." The Daughter is maybe a leader of the Return. It has been
suggested that the Seanchan themselves don't know who the DotNM is,
and that the Return will reveal her identity to them. (I gather this
theory is that the DotNM is some sort of messiah figure for the
Seanchan, or something like that.)

 Survey Says: Who is the Daughter of the Nine Moons?
    a daughter of the Empress of Seanchan: 60% (134)
    the Empress of Seanchan:               10%  (22)
    Seanchan Messiah Figure:                8%  (18)
    Cerandin from Valan Luca's show         7%  (15)
    Berelain                                4%   (8)
    Egeanin                                 1%   (2)


1.7............................WHO WILL TAKE CALLANDOR FROM THE STONE?

     The "Into the heart" prophecy (see section 7.3), suggests that maybe
     somebody besides Rand is going to remove the Callandor from the Stone:
     "Who draws it out shall follow after".

     Maybe Logain (His future glory)? Now that he is un-gentled and at large,
     he might end up with the Sword That Ain't. Even though somebody
     (Moiraine?) said that Logain would be burnt to a crisp trying to control
     the sa'angreal, we know by now that AS don't know everything.

     Another idea is that somebody using Mat's medallion could get the sword,
     because the Power traps would not affect them. Along these lines,
     somebody may be able to reproduce the effects of the medallion somehow
     and thereby get the Sword. Yet another idea is that somebody could
     physically dig Callandor out, although I dunno how easy it would be to
     dig a hole into the Stone of Tear. Maybe use fireworks a la Mat in TDR?
     Finally, Callandor might just sit there until the Fourth Age incarnation
     of the Dragon comes along.

     In <LoC: 32, Summoned in Haste, 453> Rand thinks about how he modified
     his traps after learning to invert weaves, and makes reference to
     somebody besides himself drawing the sword and "following after."

 Survey Says:
Callandor pulling: Who will pull the Sword from the Stone?
    Logain:     62% (139)       Mat:                    2% (5)
    Rand:       12%  (26)       Galad:                  1% (3)
    No one       7%  (15)       Dragon of the next Age: 1% (2)

1.8.......................................HOW DOES MAT'S MEDALLION WORK?

   When Elayne tries to use the Power on Mat in <LoC: 38, A Sudden Chill, 504>,
   she describes the effect as "The flows just...vanished." It seems that the
   medallion works by dissolving or destroying Power Flows. The fact that
   it acts on the actual flows indicates that it probably works on saidar
   and saidin. The medallion only works on direct weaving of Power flows
   against the wearer; indirect effects of the power, such as picking up a
   rock with Air and throwing it, are not blocked. This probably applies to
   lightning bolts, as well, if they are produced by building up atmospheric
   charge with the Power, not by directly weaving the Power.  Thus the
   failure of the medallion to protect against the lightning strike at the
   end of TFOH can be explained.

   There is ample evidence that this is the way it works against saidar.
   Elayne & Co.'s extensive testing of the medallion in <LoC: 47, The
   Wandering Woman, 589-593> certainly support the hypothesis.  There are
   less data points for saidin.  Rahvin's lightning strike certainly worked,
   but that can be explained by the "indirect effects" loophole. (Note,
   however, that Rand believes that the medallion "had not saved [Mat]
   from a man's channeling." Rand doesn't know everything, though.) The only
   other possible data comes from Halima/Aran'gar, who we think channels
   saidin, not saidar.   She tries to channel at Mat in <LoC: 44,
   The Color of Trust, 554>, and fails. She did this in an are full of AS.
   If she just went and channeled some weird flow at Mat, surely the
   other AS would be at least curious, especially since the channeler
   was somebody who supposedly doesn't channel at all. (More Evidence
   that Aran'gar does Saidin--<LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 697>
   [Moghedian's thoughts as she was being freed by Aran'gar] "A woman.
   But that ball of Light had to be saidin!" Moggy is somebody who knows
   the difference. Plus, there is <LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 698>
   "[Egwene] had felt [Moghedian's] necklace come off, and felt the flash
   of pain that meant a man who could channel had brushed the link.)

   Note further that Mat asked for a way to be free of Aes Sedai _and_
   the _One Power_, not AS and Saidar, or AS or the OP. If the A/Eelfinn
   are bound to grant wishes as stated, then the medallion _must_ protect
   against Saidin as well as saidar.

Survey Says:
Mat's medallion protects against:
     Both Saidar and Saidin: 84% (188)     Saidar only: 16% (35)

1.9.................................................WHY ISN'T ELAIDA BLACK?
<Erica Sadun, P. Korda>

 Read the following references:

 <TEotW: 40, 606, The Web Tightens, 508> : Elaida doesn't like Rats.

 <TSR: 1, 38, Seeds of Shadow, 29-30>: Elaida thinks about how Rand
  Al'Thor must be stopped from causing trouble in Andor, since Andor and
  its royalty are they key to defeating the DO.

 <TFoH: Prologue, 13-25, The First Sparks Fall, 13-21> and <TFoH: 19, 367,
 Memories, 260>: Elaida is pretty clearly a dupe.


1.10............................................WHAT IS UP WITH LAN'S BOND?

     From <LoC: 52, Weaves of the Power, 651-2>, we see that Lan is now bonded
     to Myrelle, as promised by Moiraine.  Question now is, what is she going
     to do with it.  Moiraine said in <TGH: 22, 322-4, Watchers, 271-3> that
     Myrelle had promised to pass the bond to somebody who would need him when
     the time was right.  Moiraine later thinks several things that indicate
     that she has arranged for Nynaeve to get him eventually.  <TSR: 21, 337,
     Into the Heart, 236>, <TFoH: 7, 190, A Departure, 135> "He denied...that
     he could ever have her...That, at least, Moiraine had taken care of,
     though he would not know how until it was done." It seems as if Moiraine
     told Myrelle that Ny was to have him. In LoC, we see Myrelle pushing Ny
     to overcome her block--possibly so she can become AS by the time Lan
     gets there, and so can get a Warder? And finally, at the end of LoC
     when Lan shows up, Myrelle wonders if she can "keep him alive long
     enough." Long enough for what?

Survey Says:
What will Myrelle do with Lan's bond?
     Give it to Ny:       78% (175)
     Keep it:              8%  (19)
     Give it back to Moir: 3%   (7)

1.11.............................................THE DEATH OF ASMODEAN

WHY DIDN'T RAND NOTICE ASMODEAN WAS DEAD?

He noticed Asm was gone. He thinks Asm ran away. Note that this
implies there was no body left. "If they discovered that he had held
one of the Forsaken prisoner and allowed him to escape...He would deal
with Asmodean himself if the man ever turned up again."<LOC, ?, A
Woman's Eyes, 92>

WHO KILLED JoaR?

 Whoever killed Asmodean must have:
     a) been recognized by Asmodean
     b) been someone Asmodean did not expect to see, and was terrified of
     c) been able to be in Caemlyn at the time
     d) been able to kill Asmodean near-instantaneously ("The word still
        hung in the air when death took him.")
     e) had a motive for killing Asmodean
     f) been able to dispose of the body

Any of the Forsaken would fulfill b-f, and maybe a. Padan Fain
fulfills c, e, and f, maybe d, but a & b are a bit of a stretch.

1) Lanfear (but she's missing, presumed dead)
  If Lanfear was alive, where would she go?  She would continue her
  revenge on Rand, I think.  BUT, having possibly lost her angreal,
  and probably facing a more prepared Rand, and having had some time
  to think about things (like Rahvin ceasing to exist), I don't think
  she'd immediately assault Rand again.  Instead, she'd again methodically
  plan to weaken him.  I think that it is very reasonable (but all
  hypothetical) for her to kill Asmodean immediately.<Amish Dave>
2) Ishamael. Maybe he's been resurrected Aran/Osan'gar style? Problem
   is how would Asmodean recognize him in a new body?
3) Mesaana. Any Forsaken would have a reason to kill Asmodean.
4) Sammael: might as well get all the unaccounted-for Forsaken in here.
5) The Dark One (Shai'....), via the agency of Shadar Haran (Shadow's Hand).
    Same problem as for Ish: why would Asmodean recognize him?
6) Fain: Could have been in Caemlyn at the time (via the Ways, if nothing
    else). Would want to kill any Forsaken because they would interfere with
    his plans to be Rand's personal hell. Can use the dagger to kill easily.
    Problems--How would Asm recognize him, and  if he did, why would he be
    terrified of him? (Possible explanation is that Asm recognized
    the Mashadar taint on Fain's dagger, as Aginor & Balthamel did at the Eye
    of the world, and _that_ is what he recognized. Problem is,
    that Asm was no longer tied to the DO, and could hardly
    channel, and so how could he recognize Mashadar?) Asm died pretty
    fast ("The word still hung in the air when death took him.");
    the dagger doesn't kill that quickly. There is enough time for the
    stabbed one to gasp, fall to the ground, writhe around a bit, and finally
    die once the Mashadar-taint spreads through his body enough. (see the
    scene in TFOH where he kills the accepted <TFoH: 19, 366, Memories, 259>,
    and the part in TGH where Mat kills the Seanchan guy <TGH: 45, 636,
    Blademaster, 538> NB: This guy seems to die much faster than
    the Accepted) Of course, Fain could have just stabbed him through the
    heart, or cut his throat.

7) Other, unlikely, suggestions include, Slayer, Mat, and Egwene.

WHO DIDN'T KILL HIM?
 From the LoC prologue, we see that Demandred doesn't know what happened to
 Asmodean: "Lanfear has vanished without a trace, just as Asmodean did."
 Hence, Demandred didn't kill him.  But the Dark One's response seems to
 imply the DO _might_ be behind what happened to Asmodean:  "WHO
 BETRAYS ME SHALL DIE THE FINAL DEATH. ASMODEAN, TWISTED BY HIS WEAKNESS."
 <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15>

In <LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 141>, Semirhage thinks to
herself, "Asmoden. A traitor, and so doomed but he really had
vanished..." and later, "If the Great Lord moved her here secretly,
might he not be moving Moghedien or Lanfear, or even Asmodean?"  This
seems to imply that Semirhage doesn't know what happened to Asm, and
thus that she didn't kill him.

 At a post-LoC signing in Chicago, RJ said that we have all the clues
to figure out who killed Asmodean. I look upon this statement with
skepticism.

Survey Says:  Who killed JoaR (Novak-Ghirardelli Survey, 1994)?

   Lanfear:      24% (53)    The DO:        3% (6)    Graendal: 1% (3)
   Fain:         17% (39)    Random minion            LTT:      1% (3)
   Shadar Haran:  7% (15)        of the DO: 3% (6)    Mesaana:  1% (2)
   Sammael:       4% (10)    Taim:          2% (5)
   Ishamael:      3%  (7)    Slayer:        2% (4)

WHY DID HE GET KILLED, ANYWAY?

If we can figure out _why_ he was killed, we might be able to throw
some light on _who_ killed him. One possibility is that he was the
target of a pre-meditated assassination. The Shadow (ie the DO and all
the Forsaken) would want to do this, because he was a traitor. Fain
would want to do this, because either Fain knew Asm was helping Rand
or he thought Asm was trying to kill/turn/etc Rand, and didn't want a
Forsaken to defeat Al'Thor--that is Fain's mission in life. (Then
again, Fain might not know anything about Asm's existence at all.)  If
it was premeditated, then how did the killer know Asm was heading for
the wine closet? Maybe Asm was a frequent customer? Maybe the killer
was hiding there, and took his chance when Asm walked in? Maybe he was
close enough nearby to observe Asm's movements?

A second possibility is that Asm was _not_ the specific target of the
killer; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps the
killer was/is spying/plotting/etc from within the ranks of the Dragon
Reborn. Asmodean bumped into him on his way to the wine closet,
recognized him, and got killed to protect his secret. Quoting from the
relevant passage: "He pulled open a small door, intending to find his
way to the pantry. There should be some decent wine." Then we have,
"You? No!" He was going to *look* for wine. He probably opened a door
to an empty storeroom or hallway. It was *not* a wine pantry. He
hadn't found it yet. If you reread the passage yourself, it seems that
it may have even been an accident he ran into his killer (i.e. the
killer wasn't planning on it, but since Asmodean saw him...). This
motive fits well with the body being removed/destroyed. If the killing
was for punishment, it would have made more sense for the body to be
left, and the death widely publicized, to set an example. So how could
the body being discovered disclose something about the killer (to the
other characters)? I can think of 3 possibilities. 1) the killer is
part of Rand's entourage, and a dead Asm could make people suspicious
that there was a traitor in the ranks. 2) there is a hole in Rand's
security, and a dead Asm would inspire people to find it in patch it
up. 3) the killer is hiding (not necessarily only from Rand--could
also be from the Forsaken) and a dead body could start folks thinking
the killer was active. Think how Asm's death started us thinking that
maybe Lanfear had returned, or that Ish was still around/around again.

1.12................................KARI AL'THOR--WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HER?
<J. R. Feehan, Anthony Padilla>

   Tam met Kari sometime before the Aiel War. (ref. Tam's ranting in the woods)
   Kari is from Caemlyn.  (ref. Moir. in Fal Dara tGH)
   Kari did not give birth to Rand.  (ref.  Too numerous to quote)
   Kari had red hair.  (ref. Nyn at Baerlon)
   Kari, supposedly, had grey eyes which Rand was supposed to have
      inherited.  (Uncertain on this one. Any references?)
   "Kari" has dark eyes in Ishy's vision at the end of tEotW. This
      might indicate that the "Kari" in the vision wasn't real. (tEotW
      near the end)
   Kari died when Rand was young, perhaps from a disease that made her
      "waste away" or something.  (Uncertain, any Refs?)
   Kari didn't like Tam's sword. (Uncertain, any ref?)

All Rand can remember of her was her smile.  Nynaeve said it was obvious
that she loved Rand, and that she was very nice.  Even still, she was only
in the Two Rivers for a few years, if all Rand can remember is her smile.
She probably had known Tam for quite a while, while he was in Andor.  At any
rate, their relationship went on long enough for him to say in his
fever dream that she "Always said you wanted to have children."
That "always" would imply that her and Tam didn't get hitched after like
a month-long romance, and that maybe they'd been married a while before
they found Rand, and maybe tried to have kids of their own to no avail,
which would have taken a while to find out.

At a book signing, RJ is reported to have said that we'll find out a
little more about Kari later.

Loony Kari theories: People have thought that Kari was Tigraine
(somehow still alive after dying on the slopes of Dragonmount) or an
Aiel Wise Woman looking after Shaiel's kid (which cannot be b/c Moir.
said that Kari's from Caemlyn) or an Aes Sedai who'd been stilled
(someone said she was wasting away and that's why she died and Tam was
her Warder, etc.  Wouldn't the White Tower have gotten to Emond's
Field faster if Kari had been one?) or a Tinker or she was related to
some Caemlyn noble we know.  Don't know why exactly, but she does have
red hair, and the Caemlyn nobles, who say they're descended from Aiel
blood, also have red hair.

1.13...................................................IS ARAM A DARKFRIEND?

 There is definitely something up with Aram:

 Egwene's Dream <TFoH: 15, 300-1, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214> indicates
 that Aram is going to get Perrin into trouble: "...the tinker.  Every time
 he moved closer to Perrin it was if a chill of doom shot through everything."

 This may just mean that there is something doom-filled about Aram being
 a tinker with a sword.

 In LoC, Aram doesn't do much besides follow Perrin around. No evidence there.

 Survey Says:  Is Aram a Darkfriend?
     Yes: 24% (54)      No: 55% (123)     Undecided: 21% (46)

1.14........IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN MAT & THE STOLEN DICE TER'ANGREAL?
<Erica Sadun, P.Korda>

 The Ter'angreal is described in <TDR: 25, 294, Questions, 237-8>
 Not bloody likely.
    1.  The dice ter'angreal was stolen by the black sisters.
    2.  It is made up of >SIX< not five dice stuck together
    3.  You must be able to >CHANNEL< to use it
    4.  Mat says he has >ALWAYS< been lucky.  This is referred to even
     before he got the dagger.  The dagger may have influenced
     this or forced him into his ta'veren-hood
    5.  Mat can win at dice with you using >YOUR< dice.

Note, though, that the dice ter'angreal could possibly be used to
counteract the probability-twisting effect of ta'veren, eg Mat's luck.
Could the dice ter'angreal have something to do with the way that Mat
felt the luck in his head go bye-bye in that inn in Ebou Dar. I
believe one of Liandrin's BA is in Ebou Dar. Could this have some relation?


1.15...................................................IS AVIENDHA PREGNANT?

 Possibly. The WOs have a plot to make Rand "know (the Aiel's) blood
 for (his) own." Aviendha has "been more successful than [the WOs]
 know," according to Amys. <TFoH: 54, 908, To Caemlyn, 643> Then again, they
 could just be meaning for him to fall in love with and marry Aviendha,
 and are congratulating her on 'getting into Rand's pants,' as Sean
 Hillyard so eloquently puts it. Evidence for the latter: Rand has
 asked Aviendha many times now to marry him, and that at one point a
 Wise One comments <TSR: 50, 882, Traps, 570> "I will make you know our
 blood for yours is I have to lay the..." Aiel ask to marry by laying a
 wreath of flowers at a man's feet, ie their goal is marriage and Aviendha
 has been quite successful--all she has to do now is accept.

 If Avi was pregnant, she would surely be showing some symptoms by now. For
 sure she would know it, having missed a few periods. I'm sure that this
 would give her more toh towards Elayne, and yet she doesn't say she's
 pregnant with Rand's child when she confesses to El. She only says she is
 in love with him, and has lain with him. <LoC: 40, Unexpected Laughter, 523>

Will Rand get any women pregnant?
     Yes: 75% (168)     No: 16% (36)     Undecided: 9% (20)

 Survey Says:  Is Aviendha pregnant?
     Yes: 49% (109)      No: 40% (89)     Undecided: 12% (26)

1.16...............................................WHERE IS GAIDAL CAIN NOW?
    1. a baby.
    2. pulled out of Tel'aran'rhiod bodily and an adult.
    3. time runs differently: Uno
    4. Aviendha's or Faile's unborn kid.
    5. Mat's lil' buddy Olver. (Hates Birgitte 'cos she is friends w/ Avi.
       Is an ugly little bugger. Problem: He's about 9 years old, which
       would mean Gaidal's soul was in 2 places at the same time when the
       Heroes of the Horn appeared at Falme--in Olver, and in the battle.
       non-linearity of time in TAR or no, this is hard to believe.)

 Survey Says: Gaidal Cain is...
        Olver:                                     38% (84)
        Somebody we have not yet met, but we will: 26% (58)
        Nobody. We'll never see him:               12% (27)
        He'll be born to a major character:         8% (18)
        Uno:                                        4% (10)
        Somebody else (not in the MC question):     1%  (3)

1.17.........................................WHAT ARE THE SEANCHAN UP TO?

     It seems as if the Seanchan have certainly taken Tanchico. The Seanchan
     spy's thoughts in <LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 697> indicates that the
     next target is Ebou Dar. Even if they do invade Salidar, the AS are
     gone from there, marching towards the Tower.

1.181.....................................................IS ISH STILL ALIVE?
<Erica Sadun, P. Korda>

Read the end of TDR.  Notice that he has split in two?  (Similar to Asmodean
 splitting in TSR, but Asmodean was re-joined.) Does this mean anything? This
 seems >very< troubling.  <TDR: 55, 666, What is Written in Prophesy, 570>
 NB: Everybody (all the Forsaken) seems to think he is dead. And they
 found a body.

     Aran/Osan'gar throw a new light on the subject. Even if one of them is
     not Ishy, there is no reason not
     to expect that the DO won't resurrect the servant who has done the most
     for him over the last 3000 years.


1.19...................................................TIGRAINE, AN ANALYSIS
 <Ruchira Datta, P. Korda>

 It is a certainty that Tigraine was Rand's mother, Shaiel.

 Tigraine was the Daughter-Heir of Andor, and was married to Taringail
 Damodred.  They had a son, Galad.  Tigraine and her brother Luc were sent
 to Tar Valon, in the usual tradition of the royalty of Andor.  Tigraine
 vanished mysteriously from Tar Valon, never to be heard from again.
 <TEotW: 34, 525-6, The Last Village, 441-2>

 In <TSR: 34, 562, He Who Comes With the Dawn, 392-3>, we learn about Rand's
 mother, Shaiel.  Her tale corresponds marvelously with Tigraine's.

 Add to this the fact that many people comment on how Rand looks like the
 Royal Family of Andor (Lord Barthanes <TGH: 32, 464, Dangerous Words, 392>,
 and many Andoran nobles <LoC: 26, Connecting Lines, 380>), the description
 of Luc <TSR: 33, 526, A New Weave in the Pattern, 368>), and there you have
 it.

In LoC at one point in Caemlyn, Rand finally learns about Tigraine's
story and is very upset until he figures out that he is not actually
directly related to Elayne.  Thus, he has placed himself in the
family tree even if no one else has.


1.20..................................................................SLAYER
 <John Novak>

"Who are Slayer, Lord Luc, and Isam?  How do they relate to each
other and the books as a whole?"

The shortest answers possible are that:
o    Isam is Lan's blood cousin.
o    Lord Luc is the brother of Tigraine, former Daughter-Heir of
Andor, and thus Rand's blood uncle.
o    Slayer seems to be some amalgamation of the two.

Our best sources of information for Luc, Isam and Slayer are in
tEotW, tGH, tSR, and LoC.

Isam is first mentioned late in tEotW.  In <tEotW, 47, More Tales
of the Wheel, 595>, Agelmar begins his tale of the history of the
fall of Malkier.  Briefly, it is revealed that al'Lan
Mandragoran is the son of al'Akir and el'Leanna.  Al'Akir had a
brother, Lain Mandragoran, who was wed to Breyan.  Lain and
Breyan were parents to a child named Isam.

Agelmar goes on to explain Breyan's jealousy and grief over her
husband's death in the Blasted Lands, and her plot with Cowin
Fairheart, hero and Darkfriend, to seize the throne for her son
Isam.  This plot failed, and Breyan fled south with her infant
son Isam, and were overtaken by Trollocs.  Their bodies were
never recovered.

It was at this time that el'Leanna and al'Akir sent their own
infant son, al'Lan, south to Fal Moran to safety.  The Glossary
of LoC places al'Lan's birth date in 953 NE, and thus we can
surmise that these events took place no later than 956 NE.

Lord Luc is the brother of Tigraine.  In <tEotW, 34, The Last Village,
441> we learn that Luc died in the Blight while ostensibly in training
to become the First Prince of the Sword.  Tigraine later vanished,
before properly assuming her throne.

Later, in <tSR, 34, He Who Comes With The Dawn, 392> we learn
that Tigraine ran off to become a Maiden of the Spear with the
Aiel at the directions of Gitara Moroso Sedai, some four years
before Laman's Sin.  The Glossary of tSR places the Aiel War,
which begun as a direct result of Laman's Sin, from 976 to 978
NE.  Thus, Tigraine disappeared circa 972 NE.

Finally, in <16, LoC, Tellings of the Wheel, 277> we learn that
Luc himself may have been sent into the Blight by Gitara Moroso
Sedai.  After his disappearance, a year before Tigraine's flight,
or about 971 NE, rumors whispered that Gitara sent him to find
fame, or fate, or the Dragon Reborn or the Last Battle.  Given
her connection with Tigraine's flight, it seems very likely that
the rumors are true.

The first reference tying Luc and Isam together in any way comes
from the Dark Prophecy, scrawled on the walls in Fal Dara after
the Trolloc raid.  A relevant stanza says:

     Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.
     Isam waited in the high passes.
     The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.
     One did live, and one did die, but both are.
     The Time of Change has come.

     <tGH, 7, Blood Calls Blood, 89>

The exact interpretation of this stanza is uncertain, as we do
not know who wrote it, nor whom it was meant for.  But clearly,
Isam survived Breyan's flight south as long as circa 971 NE,
when Luc went north into the Blight.  Curiously, Luc and Isam
would have been roughly the same age, as well.  Something
happened-- one died and one lived-- but somehow, both still
exist.

Now, the only time we know of that Luc or Isam enter the picture
in person, rather than as background, is in those segments of tSR
set around Perrin's trip back home to the Two Rivers.

Lord Luc appears as a middle aged man who claims to be a Hunter
of the Horn who has stayed in the Two Rivers area to help the
people there rid themselves of Whitecloaks and Trollocs.  Is this
the same Luc who disappeared into the Blight?  Almost certainly.
His age and coloring are correct, and Perrin muses that if he
resembles anyone, it is Rand.  A cousinly resemblance, no
doubt.  Luc is Rand's blood uncle.

Isam appears only in the Unseen World, and only by implication.

In <tSR, 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei> Perrin has several
encounters in the Unseen world.  One is with a man who tries to
kill him, a man with a cold, inhuman scent to Perrin's nose.
Hopper later identifies this dangerous creature as 'Slayer,' after
Slayer leads Perrin on a chase to the Tower of Ghenjei.  Birgitte
appears, then, identifies the Tower, connects it with the Aelfinn
and the Eelfinn, and warns Perrin away from it, and Slayer.

Later, Perrin sees Slayer in the Unseen World looking much like
Lan, dressed and styled in the Malkieri fashion <tSR, 42, A
Missing Leaf, 476>.  He muses that the man looked enough like
Lan to be a brother.

In <tSR, 53, The Price of a Departure, 614-615> Perrin faces
Slayer in the Unseen World, and shoots him with an arrow.  Slayer
disappears from the Unseen World, and when Perrin wakes up,
learns that Lord Luc had suddenly run off as if wounded.

Here, Perrin connects the two.  He notes the simultaneity of the
wounds, and notes the same icy, inhuman smell from both of them.
And he also notes that if Luc resembles anyone, it is Rand,
further reinforcing the fact that this Luc is in fact Rand's
uncle.

Finally, in <tSR, 56, Goldeneyes, 645-646> the Trollocs in the
Two Rivers form a battle cry out of the name Isam.  Clearly,
even though his activities seem limited to the Unseen World, his
influence extends to the physical flesh.

So much for evidence.  What the Hell does any of this mean?

The best anyone has been able to do is note that Luc and Isam now
seem to be separate parts of a single being, aptly named Slayer
by the wolves he kills in the Unseen World.

We know from Egwene's training what some of the properties of the
Unseen World are.  Relevant properties here include the loss of
one's humanity (as in, a cold, icy, inhuman scent coming from
both Luc and Isam) after going to the Unseen World in the flesh,
and the Unseen World's tendency to reflect the traveler's mental
state.  Given that Slayer always appears as Lord Luc in the world
of the flesh and as Isam in the Unseen World, it is a fairly safe
to assume that Isam is somehow piloting Luc's body.

>From the stanza, it seems likely that Luc is the one who lived,
because his body is still wandering around, twitching and talking,
and that Isam is the one who died.  In any other discussion, we'd
just call this a possession, and be done with it.  There are no
firm answers on how or why Isam was given control over Luc's
body, nor how much of the future Gitara Moroso saw when she sent
Luc to his doom.

However, it should be noted that odd phenomena concerning life
and death, the mind and memory are hardly unknown in the Wheel of
Time.  Specifically, channelers of skill and strength are
perfectly capable of forcing spirits bound to wait their next
incarnation in the Unseen World back into the physical world.
See Moghedien and Birgitte.  Channelers are perfectly able to
directly and powerfully impose their wills on others through
Compulsion.  The Dark One is capable of taking deceased souls and
reincarnating them directly into new bodies, as with Aran'gar and
Osan'gar.  (In fact, David Wren-Hardin goes so far as to suggest
that Aran'gar and Osan'gar have undergone the same process as
Slayer.)

It does not seem unlikely that Ishamael, perhaps with the counsel
or active help of the Dark One could have managed this feat for
some obscure purpose.

Survey says: Where's Luc?
    he's now part of Slayer, and will
         not be seen apart from Slayer/Isam ever:  50% (113)
    alive, elsewhere:                              17%  (38)
    trapped in T'A'R                               12%  (26)
    dead                                            7%  (15)
    Trapped in *finnland                            4%  (10)

Will Perrin free Luc from the Dreamworld?
    Yes: 22% (49)     No: 56% (125)     Undecided: 19% (42)

1.21........................................................THE SEVERED HAND

 The "Severed Hand" controversy centers around several of Min's visions. For
 Elayne, she has seen: 1)A severed hand, not hers <TGH: 24, 362, New Friends
 and Old Enemies, 305>, 2)A red-hot iron and an axe <TGH: 43, 605, A Plan,
 511>. For Rand, we have: A bloody hand and a white hot iron <TEotW: 15, 216,
 Strangers and Friends, 181>. Here are the theories:

 1)In <TFoH: 16, 316, An Unexpected Offer, 224> we learned that the
 punishment for stealing in Amadicia is: First Offense--branding (with
 a red-hot iron?)  Second Offense--Right hand chopped off. Scenario:
 somebody Elayne knows gets accused of stealing in Amadicia
 (Morgase?Galad? Lini?) and is branded. gets into more trouble, and has
 their hand chopped off. Rand has nothing to do with it.  His bloody
 hand is something else. <Pam Korda>

 2)Elayne gets captured and leashed by the Seanchan. Rand, or somebody else,
 is somehow forced to wear the bracelet (recall that little Seanchan game?
 <TGH: 40, 573, Damane, 484>).  Somebody then chops of Rand's hand (with an
 axe) to save the two of them. The wound is then cauterized with a hot iron
 that happens to be lying around. <Judy G, Arthur Bernard Byrne, John Novak>

 3)Joe Shaw has suggests: During Rand's battle with Ba'alzamon at the
 end of TGH, we have "Rand screamed as he felt [Ba'alzamon's staff]
 pierce his side, burning like a white-hot poker."  At the same time,
 he gets a second heron branded onto his hand.  <TGH: 47, 666, The
 Grave Is No Bar To My Call, 564> I still think this was the
 fulfillment of Min's viewing about Rand, and that Elayne's similar
 viewing is completely unrelated.

 4) Galad's hand gets chopped for having stolen the boat in Samara
 from the loony Prophet (according to the Prophet's new law, thieves
 get their hands chopped).  Problem: I see this having more to do
 with Ny than with El, since she was the one who told both Galad
 and the Prophet to get a boat for them. <Judy G., again>

RJ said, at a signing, that he deliberately made Rand like Tew/Chew,
the Norse god of strife, who lost a hand.

 Survey Says:  Will Rand lose a hand?
     Yes: 51% (114)        No: 35% (78)       Undecided: 14% (31)

1.22................................................THE GREEN MAN AND THE SONG
                                        (tinkers, soldiers, warriors, dragon)
<Erica S. P.Korda>

 Q: WHO IS THE GREEN MAN?
 A: He is the last of the Nym, a type of creature which was made of vegetable
 matter. He is described first in <TEotW: 49, 739-40, The Dark One Stirs,
 621>.  However we find out exactly who he is in the fourth book. <TSR: 26,
 432, The Dedicated, 303>
     "A stir at the end of the field told him one of the Nym was
     approaching.  The great form, head and shoulders and chest
     taller than any Ogier, stepped out onto the seeded ground, and
     Coumin did not have to see to know he left footprints filled with
     sprouting things.  It was Someshta, surrounded by clouds of
     butterflies, white and yellow and blue...Each field would have
     its Nym, now...the Nym were older than anyone.  Some said the
     Nym never died, not so long as plants grew..."
 Many years later, after the breaking, we see him again, this time with
 the characteristic fissure in his face.  He is being set to the task
 of guarding the Eye of the World, the Horn, the dragon banner and one
 of the seals. <TSR: 26, 428, The Dedicated, 300-1>

 Q: WHAT IS THE SONG?
 The Tinkers, an early offshoot of the Aiel, decided to give up their
 duty of hiding *'angreal and instead dedicate their lives to re-finding
 the safety and peace of their past. <TSR: 26, 423, The Dedicated, 296>
 They believe this will come about through finding the "growing song,"
 described in <TSR: 26, 432, The Dedicated, 303>
    "The Ogier began it, as was fitting, standing to sing, great bass rumbles
    like the earth singing.  The Aiel rose, men's voices lifting in their own
    song, even the deepest at a higher pitch than the Ogier's. Yet the songs
    braided together, and Someshta took those threads and wove them into his
    dance...The song caught him up, and he almost felt that it was himself, not
    the sounds he made that Someshta wove into the soil and around the seeds."

 The Song is not to be confused with the Ogier Tree-Songs. The Ogier songs may
 be the Ogier part of the growing ceremony described above, or they may be
 something similar, but different in purpose. The Tinkers' Song is the human
 part of the ceremony.

Survey Says: Will the Aiel and the Tinkers reunite?
     Yes: 42% (94)     No: 44% (99)     Undecided: 14% (31)

 Q:WILL THE SONG BE FOUND, AND IF SO, BY WHOM?

 The primary contenders are Aram, Perrin and Rand.  Aram's stated life goal had
 been to find the song until he took up the sword in defense of Emond's Field
 and became 'Lost' to his people. To find the song would reinstate him and
 justify his choice of giving up the peaceful 'way of the leaf'.  Perrin on
 the other hand keeps getting faced with the choice of ax or hammer: that is,
 the choice of creation or destruction, war or peace, way-of-the-warrior or
 way-of-the-leaf. Furthermore, Perrin is a contender to find the song because
 of Min's viewing of Perrin standing among the flowering trees. Rand,
 and probably some of the Aiel clan chiefs, have actually _heard_ the
 Song in the glass columns of Rhuidean.

 Further Evidence that Rand will find the song:
 <TEotW: prologue, xv, Dragonmount, xv>
     "ages past and will be in ages to come.  _Let the Prince of the Morning
     sing to the land that green things will grow_ and the valleys give
     forth lambs."

 Another opinion is that the Song will not be found. It is a thing of a
 past Age, not of the coming one.

 Survey Says:
Will the Song be found?
       Yes: 74% (166)   No: 18% (41)   Undecided: 8% (17)

Who will discover the Song?
     Perrin:  25%  (55)       Rand:   6% (14)
     Loial:   12%  (27)       LTT:    1%  (3)
     No one:  11%  (24)       Mat:    1%  (3)
     Aram:     8%  (19)       Elayas: 1%  (2)

 Survey Says: Will Perrin pick the axe or the hammer (whatever that means)?
     The Axe, then discard it for the Hammer: 57% (127)
     The Hammer:                              19% (43)
     The Axe:                                  7% (16)

 Q: WHO WERE THE AIEL?
 The Aiel (formerly the Da'shain Aiel) were the 'Dedicated' who worked
 for the  Ancient Aes Sedai.  The group was hereditary and had feature of light
 skin, gray or blue eyes and mostly reddish or blond hair.  All Aiel could be
 identified by their particular hair style which was cut short with a tail
 hanging in the back.  They were dedicated to a life of non-violence, following
 the 'way of the leaf'.  The male Aiel worked with the Ogier and the Nym in
 planting as they had the gift of the 'Voice', the seed singing.  Although the
 Ogier continue to have 'tree singers', the voice of the Aiel seems to be
 a talent that has disappeared.  When the Aiel did their work in the fields,
 they wore light gray and brown 'working clothes' (cadin'sor). The clothes,
 the hair style and the avoidance of the use of weaponry which cannot be
 used for other purposes remains today, but the talent of the Voice is
 currently unknown.

Survey Says: Are there any Jenn Aiel left?
       Yes:  29% (65)    No: 59% (133)    Undecided: 11% (25)

1.23.........................................VERIN: BLACK, BROWN, OR PURPLE?
 VERIN: BLACK OR NOT?
 <Sean Hillyard, Mike Lemons, Judy Ghirardelli, Emma Pease, Erica Sadun,
  Pam Korda, Keith Casner, etc>

 1) In TGH, Verin tells the boys that Moiraine sent her to look after them:
    <TGH: 14, 231, Wolfbrother, 195> "Moiraine Sedai sent me, Lord Ingtar,"
    Verin announced with a satisfied smile.  "She though you might need me."
    Moiraine later says that she did NOT send Verin: <TGH: 49, 675, What was
    Meant To Be, 572> "I did not send Verin."  Moiraine frowned.  "She did
    that on her own. It is pretty obvious that Moiraine is not BA, so that
    implies that Verin lied, and hence must be BA.

    DEFENSE:Verin could have been tricked by somebody masquerading as Moiraine,
    maybe Lanfear. Or, perhaps she managed to find an interpretation of her
    words that could be taken as the truth. (Moiraine wanted somebody to
    watch over you guys, but she couldn't be here...)

At a signing in Atlanta, RJ said that this discrepancy is not a mis-step.

 Survey Says:  What is going on with that?
     Verin was misleading, but in a truthful fashion: 38% (84)
     Verin was lying (violating the Oath):            28% (62)
     A misunderstanding between characters:           16% (35)
     A Jordan mistake:                                 5% (12)
     One was being impersonated:                       3%  (7)

 2) Verin does not give Corianin's notes to Egwene along with the dream
    ring.  Relevant passages:  <TDR: 21, 241-2, A World of Dreams, 187>.
    Maybe she wanted Egwene to get killed, or caught by some Forsaken?

    DEFENSE: Four reasons that Verin wouldn't want to show the manuscript
    to Egwene:  1) Verin is afraid that Egwene would not continue if she
    knew how dangerous it is.  2) Verin is afraid that Egwene would not
    continue if she knew who or what must be sacrificed. 3) The very nature
    of prophecy requires that it be vague or kept secret. 4) Maybe Verin was
    afraid that _Egwene_ was a Darkfriend. Also, note that she _considered_
    giving the notes to Egwene, but decided not to. If she was withholding the
    notes for a nefarious purpose, she wouldn't have even considered it.

 3) Her suspicious behavior in the 2 Rivers: a)Misleads Perrin as to why she
   and Alanna are there <TSR: 31, 493-4, Assurances, 345-6>. b)Tells Perrin
   not to trust Alanna, perhaps laying a false trail? <TSR: 33, 533, A New
   Weave in the Pattern, 373>. c)She also knows Luc is the missing Lord Luc,
   Tigraine's brother who disappeared in the Blight. She knows he is mentioned
   in the Dark Prophecy, yet she does not warn anyone about him? Or tell them
   who he is?

   DEFENSE: a) & b) are typical Aes Sedai behavior. As for c)...

 4) Only three characters have referred to Perrin's choice of hammer or axe:
    Ishamael, Lanfear and Verin. This puts Verin in very suspicious company.

    DEFENSE: Verin is Brown Ajah, and thus is likely to know all sorts of
    obscure things. (Also note that the above statement is somewhat false:
    Egwene also knows about the hammer/axe choice. She dreamed it.)

 5) Was observed in deep conversation with Barthanes, a known Darkfriend, at
    the party in <TGH: 33, 470, A Message From the Dark, 397> When Hurin
    approached them, Verin waved him away. Perhaps they were discussing
    "business matters?"

    DEFENSE: No, they were just talking about the weather/politics/etc and
    Verin didn't want some Shienaran servant butting into her conversation;
    it wouldn't look right and might make Barth. suspicious.

 6) In <TFoH: 53, 900, Fading Words, 638> Moiraine mentions to Rand in her
    last letter not to trust Alviarin, who is definitely a Darkfriend, and
    Verin.  Additionally, Siuan mentions that Verin never told her about
    giving Egwene a ter'angreal.

    DEFENSE: The former is just an exercise in contrasts. Moiraine is saying:
    "Don't trust ANYBODY. You are rightly suspicious of Alviarin, but you
    should be equally suspicious of those you think you can trust, like Verin."
    As for the latter, why should she tell SS?

 7) Draghkar Attack on Moiraine. <TGH: 22, 331-3, Watchers, 278-9> Executed
    at least with Aes Sedai help (the warding on them so they couldn't be
    sensed).  Moiraine seemed to think that pretty much everyone in the Tower
    had forgotten about these old hermit Aes Sedai. However, we do know one
    individual old enough to remember them who could have ordered the attack
    --Verin.

    DEFENSE: This is totally wimpy speculation, and wouldn't even be here,
    except that somebody might bring it up again.  Liandrin (known BA)
    could have easily followed Moiraine there.

Survey Says: Verin is:
     Basicly good:                                   75% (168)
     Neither good nor bad--somewhere in the middle:  18%  (40)
     Basicly bad:                                     2%   (4)

ALTERNATIVE VERIN SPECULATIONS:

1) Something in those Notes Theory: We know Verin had access to
Corianin Nedeal's notes. There is something in those notes that Verin
doesn't want anybody to know about, something so potentially dangerous
that she'd consider destroying the notes and all the knowledge
contained therein. What if, in those notes, Corianin Nedeal describes
how she discovered how to break the Three Oaths in T'A'R? That would
certainly explain why she wouldn't want Eg to have the notes,
especially after her speech at the start of TDR about how important
the Oaths are. This would also explain how she managed to lie about
Moiraine sending her. Plus, who knows what eldrich knowledge is
contained in the notes? Who knows what Verin saw when she tried out
the ter'angreal to go to T'A'R? This could explain all sorts of
Verinisms. <Keith Casner, Pam Korda>

2) Verin == Corianin Theory: Verin is Corianin Nedeal herself, and is
thus very, very, old. That is how she got her hands on the ring
ter'angreal. Problem: In <TDR: 21, ?, A World of Dreams, 191>, Verin
is thinking on Neadeal's notes, and thinks of Nedeal in the third
person. One doesn't usually refer to oneself in the third person.
Another problem (which is also present in related Very Old Verin (VOV)
theories is that if there was a 400+ year-old Aes Sedai lurking around
the Tower, surely somebody would have noticed by now. <Dave Delany,
etc>

3) Second Foundation Ajah Theory: Verin is a member of a secret
society whose members preserve ancient knowledge for humanity's need
at the Last Battle. The existence of the BA shows that it is possible
for a secret group to exist in the Tower--if there is a group
dedicated to evil, why not a group dedicated to good? Problem: there
have always been rumors of the BA. Nothing can be kept secret for
centuries in a place with so many people in it, and so much scheming
as the White Tower. And yet, we've never heard any hint of this secret
group. <Mark Hazen, etc>

4) Very Old Verin: Verin is very, very old, and pre-dates the lying
Oath, and is thus not bound to it. This theory has been proposed as
part of various Second Foundation Ajah theories, Corianin Nedeal
theories, as well as independently. problem: Verin would have to be
1000+ years old. We have seen no evidence, even in the AoL that
_anybody_ lives that long, without help from the DO. Plus, wouldn't
anybody notice that Verin had outlived dozens of Amyrlin Seats?

Survey says: In which of the following Verin Theories do you believe
             (more than one choice possible)?
    I really have no clue whatsoever
         as to what's up with Verin:              35% (78)
    She's never held the oath rod:                29% (66)
    she's in the "Secret Ajah":                   24% (53)
    she's Corianin Nedeal (the last dreamer):      8% (19)
    she is the Creator or an agent of the Creator: 6% (14)
    she's a member of the Jenn Aiel:               6% (13)
    Verin is Black Ajah :                          3%  (6)
    none of the above (i.e. yet another theory):  19% (40)


HOW OLD IS VERIN?
Many pet theories hinge upon this question. From <LoC: 11, Lessons and
Teachers, 207>, we know that Verin has been working on some plan for
about 70 years. This sets a lower bound on Verin's age. The only other
possible clue is <LOC: 43, The Crown of Roses, 549>. Merana Sedai is
considering the pecking order among the AS in Caemlyn: "Merana had
been Aes Sedai ten years the day the midwife laid Alanna at her
mother's breast...Verin was the problem...Five years as novice for
each, six as Accepted; that was one thing every Aes Sedai knew about
every other if she knew nothing else.  The difference was that Verin
was older, maybe almost as much older than she as she was older than
Alanna."  We know that the Tower doesn't take women much older than Ny
for Novices, and an average novice starts at about the age Elayne &
Egwene did (17-18), for the Very Old Verin folks, lets say both Merana
& Verin started late--24 (Ny was an exception, I think they only took
her because she was so strong).  So if Alanna is about 35 (a
reasonable guess), Merana is 24 + 11 years training + 10 years as full
AS = 45 years older than Alanna, that is, 80 years old. If Verin is as
much older than Merana as Merana is older than Alanna, then Verin is
80 + 45 = 125 years old.  So if Merana is right about how much older
Verin is than she, Verin cannot be much older than 125 years.

Survey Says: How Old is Verin?
     100-149 years old:    31% (69)     500-3000 years old:    10% (22)
     140-199 years old:    16% (36)     older than 3000 years:  1%  (3)
     70 - 99 years old:    12% (27)     less than 70 years:     1%  (2)

1.25.................................................WHY LANFEAR MAY BE GOOD
 <Ruchira Datta, korda, and Roy Navarre as the Lanfear Pin-up of the
  Month Club, Carolyn Fusinato>

 Lanfear presents a bit of an enigma.  Many of her actions have led some
 people to believe that she is not 100% Evil.  The argument is that she &
 Beidomon drilled the Bore into the DO's prison by accident, and only became
 Forsaken after that either due to the DO's direct action, or out of pride.
 Moreover, everyone would link her with all the DO's ravages that followed,
 thinking she released him on purpose, no matter what she did.  Being an
 extremely proud person, it would be hard for her to admit that she had just
 made a colossal mistake.

 EVIDENCE: In the "Eyes of Charn" sequence <TSR: 26, 432-437, The Dedicated,
 303-6>, Charn perceives Mierin as a good person, and maintains this belief
 even after she became Lanfear.  Up to TFoH (see refutation), it can be claimed
 that she hadn't done any inarguably evil acts.  She has been deceptive - but
 what would one expect from an Aes Sedai?  She is jealous and possessive of
 Rand-- but note that she had not done anything to harm her competition, which
 would probably be very easy for her to do. (She met Egwene in Tel'aran'rhiod,
 if I recall correctly, but anyway Egwene had been eliminated from the category
 of "competition" by this time.) She told Ishamael in TDR that she was loyal to
 the Dark One and no other.  But in TSR, she suggested to Rand that they
 supplant the DO together.  As for the scene at the end of TFoH, she was
 insane and not responsible for her actions. (She dislikes being called Mierin
 in the extreme.  This could be taken several ways. One way to take it is that
 she wants her former self to be disassociated from her current evil ways--
 she does not want to be reminded of what she once was, it is too painful.)

 REFUTATION: I have always believed that Lanfear was evil, starting way back
 when we first meet her as Selene in TGH.  She made my skin crawl.  LTT, an
 "honest man," even the Forsaken admit, said that Lanfear, _even when she was
 Mierin_, loved power more than anything else.  What is the DO but the ultimate
 temptation of power? All of her actions in "helping" Rand have not been to
 further his cause against the DO, but to gain his trust and lust, so that she
 could control him. She does not love Rand/LTT;she wants him to be her obedient
 lap-dog, and to serve him up on a platter to the DO, so that she can be the
 most powerful of his servants. She would supplant the DO AND the Creator in a
 second if she could, and then be disappointed that she wasn't powerful enough.
 Having deceived Rand for so long,it would have been simple for her to
 deceive Charn, a follower of the Way of the Leaf.(It is obvious from looking
 at the Tinkers and the Ancient Aiel that Leafers cannot believe that the
 world is a Bad Place with Bad People in it.) But anyway, evidence in TFoH
 closes the case for good. I do not refer to the skinning of
 Kadere, torturing of Egwene & Aviendha, killing of many, and attempted killing
 of Rand, although that provides plenty of evidence in itself, insanity
 or no. I refer to Moiraine's vision in the Rings of Rhuidean.<TFoH: 53, 900,
 Fading Words, 637> If Moiraine had not jumped Lanfear, and let her have her
 way, Rand would be a)dead, or b)Lanfear's love-slave, with the crippled mind
 of LTT. These were Lanfear's plans. They are not the plans of a good person.
 Oh, and if you need further proof, recall the ecstasy with which she describes
 bathing in the DO's presence at Shayol Ghul.

 Note that Lanfear did NOT send the Trollocs who fought Sammael's
trollocs in TSR. They were sent by Semirhage, on order of the DO. The
DO, it seems, has been giving Rand aid for some time now, probably in
the hopes of eventually turning him to the Dark Side. Any "help"
Lanfear has done for Rand was probably in view of this end. Taking
credit for rescuing him is certainly not past her.

Carolyn F. adds, that in a letter she got from RJ, he said that
Lanfear fixated on possessing a man who never loved her. (I guess LTT
was just using her for sex, eh?) Her desire for Rand is as much desire
for power as for him personally. She could get her hands on the
remote-control ter'angreal for the kick-ass sa'angreal, get credit
for turning the Dragon Reborn over to the DO. She power for power's
sake, not for Rand's sake.

1.26.....................................................WHAT'S WITH SALDAEA

 There could be some major plot development coming up, with regards to
Saldaea.  We have been getting hints for six books now. In TEotW, in
Baerlon, there are rumors about trouble up in Saldaea. But they say,
oh--that's the borderlands-- there is always trouble in the
borderlands. When we first meet Bayle Domon, he is running from
Trollocs and Saldaea <TEotW: 20, 312, Dust on the Wind, 262-3>. Then
again in TGH and TDR Saldaea is mentioned that something is going on
there.  Plus that is where Mazrim Taim was operating...Then in
TSR,someone in a tavern in Tear says something like Taim was so
powerful when he fought the Lord of Bashere's army.Then SS thinks that
with all the trouble there, Tenobia might be pushed off the
throne--Tenobia is Faile's cousin. And finally, at the end of TFoH,
Bashere shows up in Caemlyn and makes an agreement for Saldaea's
support of the Dragon Reborn. In LOC, we learn that Queen Tenobia has
gone into seclusion at some country palace, and the leader of the Army
and a good portion of said army are thousands of miles away, under the
command of the Dragon Reborn.    There has been speculation that
Semirhage's "wilful charge" is none other than Queen Tenobia. (Others
say it simply refers to the captured Aes Sedai).

 Survey Says:
Will Faile be the Queen of Saldaea?
     Yes: 72% (161)      No: 15% (34)     Undecided: 13% (28)
Is Semirhage's "charge" the captured Aes Sedai Cabriana Mercandes?
     Yes: 48% (107)      No: 19% (42)     Undecided: 23% (51)


1.27............................................................WHO WAS MAT?
 <Don Harlow, Joe Shaw, somebody else>

 It may be that Mat was Aemon of Manetheren, although there is little direct
 proof. It is certain that, in all his lives, he was a military genius.

     There has been a lot of speculation that Mat is the reincarnation of
     an ancient king of Manetheren. It seems to me fairly evident that Mat
     is the reincarnation of a fairly large number of personalities (I
     would say "different" personalities, except I suspect that they were
     all fairly similar). This is evidenced by Mat's pseudo-memories that
     emerge when Jasin Natael is singing a song about a battle at a
     river and how the enemy of Manetheren had mercy on the
        defeated Manetherenites, because they were so brave, etc. Mat
        remembers himself, the king's advisor, being killed by that foe's
     treachery; and then he remembers himself, somebody else, seeing that
     foe, older and grayer, being killed in another battle somewhere else.
     <TSR: 37, 610-1, Imre Stand, 424-5>

     Additionally, he forms the Band of the Red Hand near the end of TFoH,
     which was supposedly a band of heroes who went down defending Aemon
     himself.  This looks like another marker, though there's nothing
     directly of Aemon's memories that Mat has.
     TFoH also gives details on the span of his memories, from about
     four or five hundred years before the Trolloc wars and nothing after
     Artur Hawkwing.  What this signifies is another question entirely.

     It's clear that Mat was not King of Manetheren in his first memory,
     at least.  I agree that Mat is remembering several lives.  IMHO, Mat
     is one of the Heroes that the Pattern spins out every so often, and
     he is remembering his previous incarnations. Mat was just a brilliant
     military advisor for the Manetheren kings, not the King.

Note: it is possible that Mat's memories are not actually those of his
own past lives, but that when he asked the Foxes to fill the holes in
his mind, they just put in random memories of various battle
commanders through the ages.

1.28................................WHERE HAVE WE SEEN IRONIC FORESHADOWING?

 <TEotW: 12, 171, Across the Taren, 143> Moiraine tells Egwene:
 "Now you are behaving like a foolish village girl.  Most who come to Tar
 Valon must study for months before they can do what you just did.  You may
 go far.  Perhaps even the Amyrlin Seat, one day, if you study hard and work
 hard."

 <TEotW: 19, 278, Shadow's Waiting, 234>
 "Aemon's warcry, she said - right?  Maybe you're Aemon come back again."

 <TGH: 10, 169, The Hunt Begins, 144>
 Mat says: "You put this Aiel nonsense in his head, on top of what's
 already there, and the light knows what we'll have. An Aiel lord
 maybe."

 Nynaeve, just before entering the first arch a Novice must pass through
 to become an Accepted <TGH: 23, 336, The Testing, 283>: "Vaguely, Nynaeve
 thought about her nervousness concerning spiders" Moghedien is also known
 as 'the Spider'.

 Perrin, looking at Ingtar <TGH: 28, 407, A New Thread in the Pattern, 343>:
     "Sometimes, to Perrin's eyes, the crescent crest on the Shienaran's
      helmet looked like a Trolloc's horns."
      Ingtar is revealed at the end of TGH to be a Darkfriend seeking to
      walk in the Light (he sought the Horn for his personal salvation).

 <TGH: 32, 464, Dangerous Words, 392>
 "I am not Aiel, Lord Barthanes, and I am not of the [Andor] royal line,
 either."  (Rand to Lord Barthanes, at Barthanes' manor)

 <TSR: 52, 864, Need, 598>
 I was re-reading the part in TSR where Ny talks to Birgitte and
 Cain is around.  He reminds Birgitte how mad Spider was when she
 found out Birgitte would fight on the side of LTT.  She told
 Birgitte then something like "I will make you weep alone for
 as long as the wheel turns".  Birgitte says that Spider said
 it as just a fact that had not happened yet.
 We know in TFoH that Spider makes good on this threat, but
 un-binding her to the Wheel.

 <TFoH: 10, 229, Figs and Mice, 162>
 At one point, early in the book, Ny wishes she could have SS alone for
 just 5 minutes when SS could not channel - she gets her wish with her
 little scuffle in Tel'aran'rhiod.

 <TFoH: 25, 432, Dreams of Galad, 307> Elayne told Egwene in T'A'R' :
 "Egwene, you will be Amyrlin when I am Queen of Andor!"


1.29......................WHY ARE WE SURE THAT BA'ALZAMON IS REALLY ISHAMAEL

 All the Forsaken seem to think that Ba'alzamon was Ishamael. e.g. see Mog's
 thoughts in <TSR: 46, 759-60, Veils, 526>.

 <TDR: 21, 237, A World of Dreams, 187>  Verin reads a scrap of paper to Egwene
 when giving her the twisted stone ter'angreal. "Heart of the Dark.
 Ba'alzamon.  Name hidden within name shrouded by name. Secret buried within
 secret cloaked by secret.  Betrayer of Hope.  Ishamael betrays all hope.
 Truth burns and sears.  Hope fails before truth.  A lie is our shield.  Who
 can stand against the Heart of the Dark?  Who can face the Betrayer of Hope?
 Soul of shadow, Soul of the Shadow, he is -"

 <TDR: 56, 672-3, People of the Dragon, 575-6>, Eg, Ny, Mat, El and Moiraine
 are discussing that Rand could not have killed the Dark One himself because
 a _man's_ body was left.  They speculate that Ba'alzamon was Ishamael.

 <TEotW: 14, 204-5, The Stag and Lion, 171>: Ba'alzamon tells Rand:
 "I stood at Lews Therin Kinslayer's shoulder when he did the deed that
 named him.  It was I who told him to kill his wife, and his children,
 and all his blood, and every living person who loved him or whom he
 loved.  It was I who gave him the moment of sanity to know what he had
 done."

 Lanfear makes some comment that "Ishamael thinks he controls events, but
 I do, really" or something like that. The only other forsaken taking an
 active hand in events is Ba'alzamon. the rest are either still bound, or are
 skulking around in various kingdoms.

 <TSR: Glossary, 987, entry "Ba'alzamon", 686> "In the Trolloc tongue,
 'Heart of the Dark.'  Believed by most, erroneously, to be the Trolloc Name
 for the Dark One."                      ^^^^^^^^^^^

 <TSR: 46, 760, Veils, 526> Moghedien says: "The other [Forsaken in Tear
 beside Be'lal] sounds like Ishamael to me.  All his pride at being
 only half-caught, whatever the price-- there was less human left in
 him than any of us when I saw him again; I think he half-believed he
 was the Great Lord of the Dark--all his three thousand years of
 machinations, and it comes to an untaught boy hunting him down." She
 states right out that Ish was only half bound, and as well confirms
 Egwene's guess that Ish=Ba'alzamon.


1.30.........................WHEN WAS RAND'S POWER ACQUISITION FEVER SYNDROME
<Erica Sadun>

     1. OP use: cleansing Bela
            <TEotW: 11, 149, The Road to Taren Ferry, 125>
        Reaction:  Baerlon encounter w/Children of the Light,
            <TEotW: 15, 221-6, Strangers and Friends, 186-90>
        Time: about a week.
     2. OP use:  Hitting Trolloc with the boom of Domon's boat.
            <TEotW: 24, 306-7, Dust on the Wind, 258-9>
        Reaction:  Mast/trapeze stunt on Bayle Domon's ship
            <TEotW: 24, 357-9, Flight Down the Arinelle, 301-3>
        Time:  about four days.
     3. OP use:  calling lightning to escape the inn in Four Kings
            <TEotW: 32, 484, Four Kings in Shadow, 407>
        Reaction:  fever/chills at the inn in Market Sharan.
            <TEotW:  33, 504-8, The Dark Waits, 423-6>
        Time:  about two days.
     4. OP use:  at the Eye of the World.
        Reaction:  Forgetfulness, others?
        Time:  nearly instantaneous.

1.31...........WHY WILL THE BRACELETS WILL BE USED ON LOGAIN OR MAZRIM TAIM?
    We assume that they will be used on a faux dragon because the real
    one isn't available.

    Luke Mankin tells us more about the bracelets:
    I think that the collar and bracelets are not all one piece, and that
    they will enable a women to control a male channeler for a distance!
    Here are all the places where it is physically described that I could
    find.  Notice that they never mention a -leash-!
    <TSR: 55, 920, Into the Deep, 638>
     "Egeanin touched the collar, pushed the bracelets away from
     the collar.  If she felt the emotions trapped in them ... ability to
     channel.  `It is not a'dam,` the Seanchan woman said.  `That is made
     of a silvery metal, and all of one piece."
    <TSR: 52, 866, Need, 600>
     "...-a necklace and two bracelets of jointed black metal-..."
    <TSR: 54, 905, Into the Palace, 628>
     " ...dull black collar and bracelets...   ...wide jointed collar..."
     Since we assume that the Seanchan will get the collars, what will
     they do with their male channeler? OR, will the BA get the collar
     and bracelets through the Darkfriend connection?  Wouldn't the best
     means of destroying them be separating them and throwing them in
     say the sea, a volcano, and such?

     Now, of course, the sad bracelets can be used on any of the poor
     sods who signed up to become asha'man.

Survey Says:
Who will the Sad Bracelets be used on?
     Rand:   33% (75)     Demandred:     3% (7)
     No One: 31% (69)     Sammael:       3% (7)
     Taim:    7% (15)     Mat:           2% (4)
     Logain:  5% (13)
Will/did Bayle Domon lose the Sad Bracelets in the ocean?
     Yes: 29% (64)     No: 56% (126)     Undecided: 12% (26)

1.32........................................IS MAT STILL LINKED TO THE HORN?

 There are two points in the story where Mat could be considered to have
 died: when he was hung from the tree in Rhuidean, and when he got hit
 by lightning in the raid on Caemlyn in TFOH. So, is he still linked
 to the horn?

   Firstly, in Tear, <TSR: 15, 253, Into the Doorway, 177>
    [Snakey Answers to "What fate?]
     "'To die, and live again, and live once more a part of what was!'

   Secondly, in Rhuidean, <TSR: 26, 437-8, The Dedicated, 306-7>
     "Letting sword and Power go, he ripped the rope away from Mat's
     neck and pressed an ear to his friend's chest.  Nothing.
     Desperately, he tore open Mat's coat and shirt, breaking the
     leather cord that help a silver medallion on Mat's chest.  He
     tossed the medallion aside, listened again.  Nothing.  No
     heartbeat.  Dead.  No!  He'd be all right if I hadn't let him
     follow me here.  I can't let him be dead!
     "As hard as he could he pounded his fist against Mat's chest,
     listened.  Nothing.  Again he hammered, listened.  Yes.  There.
     A faint heartbeat.  It was.  So faint, so slow.  And slowing.
     But Mat was still alive despite the heavy purple welt around his
     neck.  He might yet be kept alive.
     "Filling his lungs, Rand scrambled around to breathe into Mat's
     mouth as strongly as he could.  Again.  Again..."

   He had no heartbeat!  He wasn't breathing!  He was clinically dead.
   On that evidence, I really don't see how anyone can doubt, at the
   very least, that Mat actually died.  I do grant that we can disagree
   and quibble over the binding of the Horn, but that's a different
   matter.  And on that note, Judy is correct-- the phrasing that the
   Amyrlin used at any rate was "So long as you live." <TDR: 20, 233,
   Visitations, 182> I just wonder if anyone ever actually linked
   themselves to the Horn before, then died and then came back to life.
   In other words, is their knowledge absolute in this matter, or is
   this just a turn of phrase? <John Novak>

 Survey Says:  Is Mat still linked to the Horn?
     Yes: 69% (155)        No: 21% (46)     Undecided: 8% (19)

1.33.............................................THOUGHT AND MEMORY TAKE TWO
<Erica Sadun>

 Just another thought while re-reading.  Our favorite heros all
 seem to have unusual memories available to them.  Meaning:

 1)  Rand has memories of the past through the experience
     at Rhuidean, plus LTT lurking (screaming, more like it)
     inside his head.

 2)  Mat has memories of the past through the past lives
     he has had, which he can now remember.

 3)  Perrin has the memories of the wolves.  In TEotW, Elyas
     tells him that wolves remember from the first wolf on,
     so I think that means that wolves have the memories of
     all wolves ever.  So conceivably, Perrin would have
     access to these memories.

1.34........................................................MORE OF THE FAIN

 Padan Fain was a Lugard peddler, who moonlighted as a Friend of the
 Dark.  When it came time for the Dragon to be reborn, Fain was taken
 to Shayol Ghul and made into the Dark One's Hound, to search out the
 Dragon Reborn.  Followed the boys to Shadar Logoth and had a run-in
 with Mordeth.  Mordeth tried to devour Fain's soul, but couldn't,
 because of the hold the DO had on him.  So Fain became part Mordeth,
 part minion of the DO.  This is basically what the books tell us.

 Roy Navarre and Tony Z came up with a theory that Fain is actually the
 avatar of the DO.  Roy says:  First, if you check the glossary, you will
 see that the DO is described as the source of _all_ evil.  Hence Mashadar
 must flow from the DO or the glossary is wrong.  (We had pages and pages
 of discussion on this in the past).  Next, Myself and Tony Z presented
 detailed evidence suggesting that Fain is the avatar of the DO.  With
 each broken seal, Fain gets stronger.  Thus, the DO has been in our midst
 all this time but we just didn't know it.  At first only a trace of him
 in Fain, but growing stronger and stronger until now his presence in Fain
 seems unmistakable.

 Eric Ebinger counters:
 Fain no longer exists.  Padan Fain was summoned to Shayol Ghul, was broken
 and reformed into a bloodhound for the DO, as part of which he was imprinted
 by the DO.  This happened twice at Shayol Ghul and once in a dream.
 Padan Fain/DO bloodhound went to Shadar Logoth and fell prey to Mordeth.
 Normally, Mordeth would just destroy the existing "soul/personality", but
 Padan Fain's having been "remade" by the DO seems to have changed things
 sufficiently so that there was a slow gradual merging of *all* of the
 different personalities (Fain/Mordeth/DO's imprint).  The most accurate
 term for the combination is the name that he took: Ordeith.  Over time, the
 Mordeth portion has gained more and more control over the gestalt.  The DO's
 imprint has given Ordeith the unreasoning hatred of Rand, Perrin, and Mat.
 There doesn't seem to be much of anything of Padan Fain left.  As the
 Mordeth fragment has gained more complete control of the gestalt, Ordeith
 has increased in power.  The seeming relationship between the breaking of
 the Seals and Ordeith's power is due only to the fact that as time passes
 Ordeith gets stronger and as time passes the Seals break.  The same
 relationship is evident with Rand, Perrin, Mat, Elayne, Egwene, Aviendha
 and Nynaeve.

Survey Says:
Is Fain currently the DO?
     Yes:  0%  (0)   No: 99% (221)     Undecided:  1%  (3)

Will Fain BECOME the DO?
     Yes: 14% (32)   No: 70% (156)     Undecided: 17% (37)

 What is he up to now? Not much, for somebody who is supposedly as dangerous
 as the Shadow.  He went to the Fortress of the Light and the White Tower to
 sow seeds of dissension, and make sure Pedron Niall and Elaida would never
 join Rand.  He seems to be currently involved in causing Rand trouble, in
 little instances which could, admittedly, build up. He instigated a failed
 assassination of Rand by his ex-WCs in Caemlyn. He might also have been
 responsible for the attack on the Brown AS
 in Caemlyn which ended up driving a rift between Rand and the Salidar AS,
 and sending him into the hands of Elaida's AS in Cairhien, but this could
 just as easily (and more probably) have been part of some Forsaken's
 plot, or a plot by the Tower AS & the Shaido to alienate the Salidar AS
 from Rand. He still has his pet myrddraal.

1.35.......................................JAIN FARSTRIDER: WHERE IS HE NOW?

 Jain seems to have a cult following among the Jordanites.
 "Jain lives!" they proclaim.  So, as promised, here is a list of all
 the suspects in "who is Jain in disguise" contest.

 1) Elyas Machera--Both Borderlanders, Elyas is pretty old.
 2) Tam Al'Thor
     (It is very unlikely that Tam==Jain. Malkier fell a little less than
     50 years before TEOTW (say 45-50 years), according to Lord Agelmar.
        <TEotW: 47, 708, More Tales of the Wheel, 595>
     At the time, Jain was a young man, say between 17 & 20. Thus,at the
     start of TEOTW, Jain would be 62-70 years old. I would put Tam at 50,
     tops, probably younger. definitely not older than 60.) Plus, RJ has
     said that Tam spent his time away from the 2 Rivers in Illian, which
     precludes his running around the Borderlands and the Blight.
     At a signing in Atlanta, RJ said that Tam & Rand were originally
     the same character--a soldier come home to a small town. This pretty
     much precludes his being Farstrider, no?
3) Graendal's old man in wrinkled coat. (This is more likely the Domani
   king she displaced, or that famous general she has working for her.)
4) Bayle Domon, because he seems to be very well traveled and likes to
        collect old things, and his talk to Mat about it being "the
        strangeness you see that pulls you to the next horizon."
        <TEotW: 24, 356-7, Flight Down the Arinelle, 300>.

 I cannot think of any more, offhand, although I know there are many more.

 Survey Says:  Jain is...
     No one:   50% (112)     Tam:       2% (5)     w/ Graendal: 1% (2)
     dead:     29%  (66)     Bayle D.:  2% (4)
     Elyas:     4%   (9)     Thom:      1% (3)

1.36.........................................................WHO WAS SILVIE?
<P. Korda, Joe Shaw>

 <TDR: 27, 316-9, Tel'aran'rhiod, 257-9>
 Most likely, Lanfear, it was part of her plot to get Rand and/or Mat to
 go to Tear.  Egwene and Nynaeve were to be bait to draw him there,
 only Rand was already going there to stop their attacks through his
 dreams.  The girls were probably just a backup in case he resisted the
 dreams or learned to shield them on his own.  Egwene and Nynaeve were
 to be Be'lal and Ish.s bait to draw Rand, while Liandrin and Co. were
 the bait to draw draw Egwene and Nynaeve.  See Perrin's dream about
 the trap in <TDR: 43, 504, Shadowbrothers, 426> (see section 7.6) which
 matches Egwene's dreams about "puppets" in <TDR: 37, 423, Fires in
 Cairhien, 352-3> (see section 7.1).  Lanfear was playing along with Ish,
 but working to her own designs.

 There's no doubt (in my mind) that Silvie was Lanfear.  And the reason
 for ripping off the ring ter'angreal to throw her out of T'A'R was
 just her cruel streak; Lanfear knew she was a Dreamer since she had been
 haunting the White Tower as Else, and just wanted Egwene to go to the
 Heart of the Stone in T'A'R to make sure the girls decided to go there.
 Once she had accomplished that, why not send her out the hard way?
 After all, Lanfear claimed T'A'R as her domain (even though Mog. was
 stronger there), so there was no need for Egwene to learn too much
 about "her domain."  Plus, her precious LTT reborn had once loved this
 girl; I'm sure she couldn't resist inflicting a little pain on her,
 especially since the fact that Eg was bait to draw Rand to Tear meant
 that he still cared about her.  That must have drove Lanfear bonkers.

Survey Says: Who was Silvie?
     Lanfear: 52% (116)     Liandrin:  1% (2)
     Mesaana:  6%  (14)     Semirhage: 1% (2)
     Moggy:    1%   (3)

1.37..........................................WHO ORDERED MELINDHRA, AND WHY?

 <TFoH: 34, 550, A Silver Arrow, 390> Nynaeve and Birgitte were eavesdropping
 on the Forsaken Conference in Tel'aran'rhiod.  Rahvin says, "He [Rand] will
 concentrate on you [Sammael], ...  If need be, one close to him will die,
 plainly at your order.  He will come for you.  And while he is fixed on
 you alone, the three of us, linked, will take him.  What has changed to
 alter any of that?"  So, it seems Melindhra was ordered to kill Mat with
 a golden bee dagger if the need arose.  Mat let slipped to her that Rand's
 going to Caemlyn, instead of "concentrating of Sammael", and she attacked
 Mat right away <TFoH: 51, 871, News Comes To Caemlyn, 617>.

1.38..........................................WHY MOIRAINE IS NOT BLACK AJAH

 I thought this was a dead issue, but apparently it is not. sigh. Okay,
 why would anybody think Moiraine was BA? well, during TGH, RJ seems to
 be putting down clues in that direction. namely, she was missing
 during the time of the DFS. Also, she was wearing her ring on a
 different finger than she had before (oh no! not that!!!!). Well, this
 was all a red herring, because since then, we have been privy to
 Moiraine's thoughts, which show that she walks in the light. Okay,
 maybe she has multiple personalities, but I doubt it.

1.39.......................................................CAN THOM CHANNEL?
<Arthur Bernard Byrne, P. Korda>

 Here are the reasons why some people think Thom can channel: 1) The
 mysterious blue flash in Whitebridge/random burns after the Fade
 fight. 2) The White Ajah hypothesis that channeling has a genetic
 link, and that Thom has at least one relative who can channel (Owyn)
 3) His comment that he "could have done *something*" for Owyn.  4)
 <TFoH: 9, 203, A Signal, 145> Nynaeve says "she could not channel any
 more than Thom".  This is taken to be "ironic foreshadowing."

 Objections: 1) The blue flash is an artifact of TEOTW, we also see it
 when Lan battles a Fade. It is probably just something that Jordan
 dropped after the first book. As for the fires, it seems likely that
 there was some sort of riot after the fight, which is why people
 didn't want to talk about it. 2) The genetic basis for channeling is
 not a simple matter at all, in the whole series, we've only heard of
 one channeler who is closely related to another--Elayne (if she's
 Taringail's kid, she's related to Moiraine, if she's Thom's, she is
 related to Owyn). 3) The "something" comment is probably just wishful
 thinking. 4) If Thom was a channeler, he would have to have the
 "spark inborn," since nobody goes around teaching men to channel.
 Thus, he'd have started channeling at about 20, a la Rand. Even if he
 had a block, like Ny, he would have channeled quite a bit in the 30
 or so years since then, more than enough for him to be showing sign of
 madness and the rotting disease.  5) Noting that we have seen of
 Thom's thoughts gives any indication of him being able to channel. 6)
 Rand should probably be able to sense some channeling ability in
 Thom, a la the AS. Then again, maybe he doesn't know what to look for.

>From a signing in Seattle, Edward "potato" Liu tells us:

Now, regarding Thom, RJ said a man will not go mad or sick away if he
never channeled.  Thus, he agreed that a male channeler who could be
taught to channel (as opposed to having the inborn ability) and has
never channeled would not die from the taint.  BUT, when I asked him
if he ever intended to make people think that Thom could channel, he
said no.  I brought up the hereditary point (i.e. Owen) but he said
just because your parents have a particular gene doesn't mean you'll
receive that particular gene.  Also he made a point that Owen was his
nephew so therefore not necessarily very similar gene-wise.  When I
pressed him again on it, he said (I'm quoting) "There is no way in
hell Thom can channel."  All he offered for explanations is that Thom
is a "mysterious man."  Enough said.

1.40..................................................IS SHERIAM BLACK AJAH?

1) PRO: The scene with the Gray Man in the Tower. Nynaeve points out that
     Sheriam never once wonders about who killed the Soulless.  She acts
     rather suspicious in general during that whole scene. <TDR: 15,
     187-191, The Gray Man, 142-6>.
   CON: She was just being brusque with the kids because she wanted
     them to keep quiet.  And why _should_ she wonder who killed
     him in front of the Accepted?
2) PRO: Mistress of Novices would be a plum position for a Black Ajah,
     in terms of recruiting (voluntarily, or through the assistance
     of a few Fades).
   CON: Just because it would be a good position, doesn't mean the Black
     Ajah got one of their own into the job.
3) PRO: Sheriam's also the perfect operative of the Shadow for the
     tower-in-exile in Salidar.  There were many suspicious things
     about her treatment of Elayne and Nynaeve when they arrived in
     Salidar.  Sheriam seemed to be the most ardent about confiscating
     the ter'angreal.  It won't be too surprising if it's Sheriam who
     gives Nynaeve the hardest time when Nynaeve claims that she's
     captured Moggy in Salidar.  Sheriam, by her refusal to believe
     Nynaeve, will be the reason Moggy escapes.
   CON: Again, she's just being Aes Sedai.  Why should she let the kids
     keep the ter'angreal, or approve of them galavanting about the
     glove, instead of studying like they should be?
4) PRO: Egwene's Accepted test: she says something like "He said they
     could turn him to the Shadow, against his will. Can they?"
     <TDR: 22, 255, The Price of the Ring, 202-3>  Sheriam then
     tells her about the 13 Dreadlords + 13 Fades trick, but she
     doesn't wonder who "he" was.  Could she already know, from
     the Darkfriend Social?
   CON: Why would a Darkfriend tell Egwene about that trick, so that
     she'd know to watch out for it?

If Sheriam was a DF, isn't it probable that Halima/Aran'gar would've
attached herself to her, the Keeper of the Chronicles, instead of a DF
Sitter of the Hall? or possibly to both?

Survey says: Is Sheriam BA?  Yes: 13% (29)

1.41................................................WHO IS NOT A DARKFRIEND?

 There are several characters who we know cannot be Darkfriends. We
 know because Jordan has shown us their thoughts when they are thinking
 about their motivations, their opinions towards the Shadow and the DO,
 or something similarly indicative. These people are:

 Rand, Mat, Perrin, Moiraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Min, Elayne, Elaida (see
 Section 1.11), Morgase, Thom, Egeanin, Bayle Domon, Pedron Niall, Dain
 and Geofram Bornhold, Siuan Sanche.

1.42.........................................WHO ARE ARAN'GAR AND OSAN'GAR?

We've been told since TEOTW that the DO is Lord of the Grave. It is
about time he started acting it.  In <LoC: Prologue, The First
Message, 59-61>, we see "Aran'gar" and "Osan'gar," two minions of the
Shadow brought back from the dead and put into new bodies. It is a
good first approximation to assume that they are reincarnated
Forsaken, and not some random Dreadlords.  After all, if the DO is
going to bring people back to life, why not Choose the strongest of
his servants?  So, what Forsaken are available for reincarnation (i.e.
are dead)?  Aginor and Balthamel, the Terrible Two from the TEOTW
finale, Ishamael, Rahvin and Be'lal, and possibly Asmodean and
Lanfear.  Well, Rahvin and Be'lal died of balefire, and their souls
are beyond even the reach of the DO.  Asmodean was a traitor, and the
DO apparently lumps him in with Rahvin as having "Died the final
death" <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15>, so it probably wasn't
him.  Aran'gar is not Lanfear, because of Osan'gar's statement
"Lanfear seemed cautious in contrast [to Aran'gar]."  Furthermore,
Osan'gar cannot be Lanfear because his Forsaken-name had been "given
in scorn and adopted in pride."  Lanfear was the only Forsaken to have
chosen her own nom de guerre. This leaves us with Aginor, Balthamel,
and Ishamael.

Now, Ishamael was not bound like the other Forsaken during the Third
Age.  He was "partly bound," or maybe not even bound at all. There are
references to this throughout the series, starting with the prologue
to TEOTW, where Ishamael appears to LTT during the Time of Madness
(chronologically _after_ the sealing of the Bore). However, Osan'gar
makes reference to "waking from the long sleep" with an aged body.
The long sleep is obviously the time spent sealed between the universe
and the DO's dungeon dimension. Thus, Osan'gar must be either Aginor
or Balthamel.  As to which one, all we really have to go on is his
comment on having helped make the Trollocs and not liking the Halfmen
who were an unexpected effect of that experiment. We know that Aginor
was very involved in creating the various Shadowspawn, and that he was
unnerved by Fades, spending lots of time trying to discover how they
"fade."  So if we have to choose one or the other for Osan'gar, I'll
say he was Aginor.

Now for Aran'gar.  She is extremely upset at being put into a woman's
body, and Osan'gar thinks it is a "fine joke."  From TEOTW, we know
that Balthamel enjoyed "the pleasures of the flesh."  That is to say,
he was a real lech.  Thus, it would be a great joke to put him in a
female body.  Furthermore, it is stated that Aran'gar was always
rather rash.  I really wouldn't classify Ishamael as "rash," not with
his centuries of careful planning.  So, it is a good bet that Aran'gar
was Balthamel.  Still, it is not 100% certain; we don't have enough
evidence to narrow it down to which of the two is Aginor and which is
Balthamel for certain.  And even though Ishamael probably isn't either
of the two, I would bet that he has been reincarnated in a similar
fashion, we just haven't seen him yet.  (Or, maybe we have, but don't
know it :).

Survey Says:

Who is Aran'gar?
     Balthamel:  57% (128)     Asmodean: 1% (3)
     Aginor:     12%  (26)     Lanfear:  1% (2)

Who is Osan'gar?
     Aginor:     58% (129)     Ishamael: 1% (3)
     Balthamel:   4%  (10)     Lanfear:  1% (2)

1.43..........................................MAZRIM TAIM--IS HE REALLY HIM?

<reasons nicely compiled by Jared Samet. Contributors Jared Samet, Bill
 Garrett, William Smit, John Schwegler, John Novak, Pam Korda, OilCan, and
  lots of other folks.>

So, is the Mazrim Taim in LoC the real Mazrim Taim, the Saldean False
Dragon, or is he the Forsaken Demandred in disguise?

Here, MT=the character in LoC, general of the Asha'man. Taim=the False
Dragon we heard about, captured after Falme.  Demandred=Forsaken.

A Scenario for MT to be Demandred:

The BA, or a Forsaken, or some Trollocs broke Taim free from where he
was being held in Saldaea. They took him to Semirhage, or someone else
who could extract every bit of information from his skull (a la the AS
Cabriana who Semirhage tortures) and drained him dry. Then they killed
him. Now, Demandred either 1) Looks kind of like Taim in the first
place, or 2) Looks very different from Taim and is using a partial
illusion to look like the real Taim. This is why Bashere isn't sure
that MT is Taim, and why MT says that he shaved his beard.
This also explains why it is MT who brings up the things only he
and Bashere know--to convince everybody that he _is_ Taim.

Then again, MT may really be the original Mazrim Taim. The reason
we think of Demandred when we see him is not because he _is_
Demandred, but because he is similar to Demandred in personality--he
wanted to be the Dragon, he doesn't like being second-best, etc. Taim
could have the ultimate plan of supporting Rand as much as he can,
helping him to win the Last Battle.  Since Rand is expected to die in
the Last Battle, Taim plans to bide his time and take control in the
aftermath. After that, well, as MT says, the winners write the
histories.

Here are the indications that MT == Demandred, and arguments against:

1)MT knows too much. The test, how quickly he picks up gateways,
  how well he teaches the Asha'man, etc.

  ANSWER: He's supposedly been channeling for 15 years. He had to have
  learned _something_ in that time. Plus, MT mentions to Bashere that he
  used compulsion on two people <LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76>. Since the real
  Taim did that, the real Taim DID know stuff.  As for Gateways, maybe Taim
  is just a fast learner, like Rand, or Nynaeve. In fact, one's ease of
  learning seems to be a direct function of how strong one is in the Power.
  (examples: Rand, Ny, El, Eg are all fast learners, and even SS and Moiraine,
  who are stronger than your average bear, er, AS, spent a relatively
  short time as Novices (3 years?).) This probably has to do with the fact
  that, the stronger you are, the easier it is for you to see the flows
  required for a particular action, and thus can more readily duplicate it.

2)The Seal. The story about finding it in a Saldaean farmer's house
  is pretty fishy. Could be that Demandred (posing as Taim) gave it
  to Rand in order to try to gain his trust?

  ANSWER: If MT is Demandred, why would he, and the DO, give a seal to Rand?
  If the minions of the Shadow had a seal, wouldn't they break it? Maybe
  the DO could predict that Rand/LTT would try to break the seal, but
  Demandred couldn't have. MT was certainly shocked when it looked like
  Rand was going to smash it <LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 80-1>. As mentioned,
  it could be that Demandred would want to give it to Rand to get him
  to trust him, but that failed utterly. Or there could be some
  mysterious reason why the DO _wants_ to stay sealed up, at least for
  the time being. (The origin of MT's seal story is somewhat backed by
  Bashere's story to Perrin about a farmer in Saldaea who claimed to be
  the ancestor of the kings of a ancient Kingdom.  If MT Farmer ==
  Bashere Farmer it would be plausible that the seal was the last item
  of inheritance.  And who better for the farmer to give it to than the
  Dragon Reborn (MT claim before Rand declared himself)

3) MT claims to not be affected by the Taint, after 15 years of channeling
   <LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76>.  This seems pretty unlikely (cf. Owyn, who
   was going mad after only 3 years of seldom channeling at all).  The only
   Taint protection we know of is linking to the DO.

   ANSWER: Unless Taim was a raving lunatic when he was leading his armies
   as a False Dragon, he must have still been somewhat sane, even after 15
   years.  Plus, Logain, who is not a Forsaken, has been channeling for
   six years, and isn't going mad. It seems likely that the ease with which
   one succumbs to the Taint varies widely with the person. Owyn went under
   in 3 years, MT mentions some other guys who lasted for 2 years <LoC: 2,
   A New Arrival, 79>, and Logain has lasted for 6 <LOC: 51, The Taking, 647>.

4) MT's reaction to Rand's badges and awards--not pleased to be seen
   as subservient to Rand <LoC: 42, The Black Tower, 543>, just like
   Demandred <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 56-7>.

   ANSWER: It is entirely possible that Taim is just plain arrogant. Nothing
   says the Forsaken have a monopoly on over-weaning pride.

5) LTT thinks of Demandred, and killing him, every time MT is
   around. Is there a method in his madness?

   ANSWER: Possibly, but again, it could just be that Taim is similar to
   Demandred in many ways, and LTT thinks he will betray him like
   Demandred did in the AoL. Anyway, LTT is loony. Plus, LTT seems to get
   this way about all male channelers who are not him/Rand. <LoC: 2,
   A New Arrival, 83> <LoC: 42, The Black Tower, 545>

6) The epilogue--"Have I not done well, Great Lord?" The DO's orders
   were to "Let the Lord of Chaos Rule," which seems to refer to Rand/LTT.
   MT, in building the Asha'man, has certainly helped Rand in gaining
   control of the world.

   ANSWER: From Sammael's speech with Graendal <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of
   Shadow, 135>, we know that Demandred may be involved in the Seanchan
   invasion in Tarabon.  Maybe this has something to do with it.  (If
   Demandred is MT and is also involved with the Seanchan, wouldn't it
   be necessary for him to "disappear" from the farm in order to manage
   his other project?  I don't think anybody mentioned anything about MT
   vanishing.  Maybe some of his recruitment trips were to the west coast?)
   Or, John Schwegler points out, Remember the intricate setup that
   occurred on the way to the White Tower ... including the Shaido Aiel.
   Perhaps Demandred had a major hand in manipulating the Shaido, and
   orchestrating a scenario that puts Rand at odds with the rest of the
   Aes Sedai(White Tower & Salidar). Neither Egwene nor Elaida will be
   pleased to hear that Rand made their Aes Sedai swear allegiance. Or, this
   could also have been a set up wrt "Let the LOC Rule"--it got the AS to
   swear allegiance to him, plus it probably helped MT gain some favor in
   Rand's eyes.

7) MT kills the Gray Man.  If he hadn't, Rand might have
   gotten information out of it. Alternatively, it could've been a
   set-up, since MT gates in oh-so-conveniently just in time to waste
   the Gray man.

   ANSWER: Doubtful Rand could get much information from a Gray Man.
   The Gray Men have no souls--they're
   basicly walking killing machines.  They probably have some sort of self-
   destruct mechanism, too.  Jared Samet remarks: "If I were designing a
   perfect assassin, I'd set him up so that he could never point the finger
   at me.  Remember, the Gray Man who comes after Nynaeve in the Tower has a
   knife in him the moment they find him.  Besides, the gray Man could only
   tell Rand anything damaging to MT if Demandred had sent him (possible
   I suppose, but why can't Demandred do it himself if thats what the DO
   wants?) A Gray Man with a story implicating Sammael or some other Forsaken
   (easy enough for a channeler to set up) could help MT more than a dead
   one." As for how conveniently MT showed up, recall that strange and
   oddly convenient things happen around Rand all the time.

   Survey Says: Who sent the Grey Man?
     Demandred:  25% (56)     Graendal:  4% (8)     Fain: 1% (2)
     Sammael:    24% (53)     Lanfear:   2% (4)
     Taim:        4%  (9)     Osan'gar:  1% (3)

8) MT's remark on "These so-called Aiel".  If he hadn't been around in the
   AoL, why are they "so-called"? <LoC: 11, Lessons and Teachers, 215>

   ANSWER: Well, if Taim knew the old tongue, he might be simply
   saying that he doubts the Aiel are truly "dedicated" to Rand.
   (weak, I know, but I couldn't think of anything better.) William
   Smit says, "Lanfear, who was in the AoL, never doubts that the Aiel
   are the same Aiel, she only says "So different than they once were",
   so I doubt that Demandred would claim the Aiel were only "so-called""
   Then again, it could just be a turn of phrase. Another possible
   explanation is that, if Taim is about 35, which seems reasonable, then
   he was alive for the Aiel War, although probably too young to go east
   to fight. He probably heard tales about Aiel--10 feet tall, breathing
   fire, &c. Here he sees some in Caemlyn peacefully patrolling the streets.
   Not what an average wetlander would expect of Savages From the Waste.

9) MT is very strong in the Power. Forsaken-class, even (almost as strong
   as Rand himself) <LoC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92>

   ANSWER: The real Taim was thought to be very strong. <TSR: 5,
   Questioners, 85> Just because he's strong doesn't mean he's evil.
   Nynaeve is Forsaken-class, but she's on the Good Guys' side.

10) In the prologue, it is said that Demandred never smiles <LoC: Prologue,
    The First Message, 15>, <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 58>.
    MT doesn't either - at the end of LoC, before "Kneel, or you will
    be knelt", Rand says something like "His expression was as close to a
    smile as he had ever seen it."<LoC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 695>

    ANSWER: Once again, it could just be that Taim and Demandred have
    similar personalities.

11) Min's viewing of an invisible man holding a knife to Rand's throat.
    This could indicate that Demandred is the "serpent in the bosom,"
    masquerading as Taim.

    ANSWER: This could be the Gray Man, as Rand thinks. Or, it could still
    be MT, who is not to be trusted, even if he isn't Demandred.

12) LTT says to Rand, (approx. wording), "Yes, we should kill Sammael.
    But Demandred first, then Sammael." <LoC: 51, The Taking, 635>
    LTT and Rand know
    where Sammael is. But how does LTT propose to go about killing
    Demandred if he doesn't know where he is? Therefore, they _do_ know
    where Demandred is; i.e., he's MT. (Dash W.)

    ANSWER: I wouldn't take anything LTT says too seriously. He wants
    to die forever and end his suffering<LoC: 18, A Taste of Solitude,
    299>, but he doesn't want to die <LoC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 560>.
    He says "trust no one" and "the man who doesn't trust is
    dead" or words to that effect. LTT could be confusing Taim and
    Demandred.

13.Demandred takes a gateway directly out of TAR while in the Royal palace in
   Caemlyn.Unless Demandred knows some sort of combination
   traveling/leaving TAR gateway then he must be somebody, or pretending
   to be somebody who comes to Caemlyn regularly,and somebody who can
   channel his way into the palace without inviting immediate destruction
   upon himself. We know that MT has been visiting Rand in Caemlyn
   because Rand's thoughts comment on how MT has taught him to block out
   heat, and a few chapters later Rand tells MT that his visits to the
   city would have to stop because Alanna and Verin have shown up.

ANSWER: Maybe he went out of TAR to someplace that was not Caemlyn. (problem
   here: I don't think we've seen anybody enter/leave TAR via any means
   except gating to the spot in the real world corresponding to the spot
   one is in in TAR.) Also, Maybe Demandred is gutsy enough to enter into
   Rand's turf.

14) Bill Garrett says: Something that should maybe be added as a
    separate point is MT's whole challenge/submit behavior.  He'll argue
    with Rand about something, telling him it has to be done another way,
    then suddenly he'll agree and say "As my Lord Dragon commands."  I
    think it's Demandred trying to do things _his_ way, but suddenly
    remembering the Dark One's orders to do what Rand says.  And MT
    sometimes disobeys Rand and frequently does things Rand doesn't
    expect, as with the Asha'man.

    ANSWER: How is this different from the way the Tairen lords behaved?
    Or the Andoran nobility? Or Davram Bashere? Hell, even the Aiel tend
    to do this.  Everybody tries to convince Rand to do things their way,
    but when you get right down to it, he's going to do as he damn well
    pleases, and all you can say is "As my Lord Dragon commands."

Another possibility, which hasn't been debated as fully, is that
Demandred was always Taim. I don't know if the time scale is right,
and there are other problems wrt his capture by the AS, etc. Yet another
question which has been discussed is that Osan'gar is Taim.

Survey Says:

Taim is:
     On the enemy's side:  63% (140)       On Rand's side: 23% (51)

Who is Taim:
     Demandred: 51% (115)     Aginor:      1% (2)
     Taim:      33%  (75)     A Forsaken:  1% (2)
     Osan'gar:   4%   (9)

1.44.......................................................WHO IS MESAANA?
<Tony Zbaraschuck, Marc Zappala, Pam Korda)

In LOC, we find out that Mesaana is hiding out in the White Tower
<LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138>.  Naturally, this begs the
question of _who_ she is.  Some folks think that she has taken the
Rahvin/Sammael/Be'lal/Graendal route, and is posing as a high-ranking
AS in the Tower.  The two most-often-mentioned candidates are Galina
(the head of the Red Ajah, and the one involved w/capturing Rand) and
Alviarin (Elaida's Keeper of the Chronicles).  The reason for these
guesses seem to be, in Alviarin's case, that she is in an important
position, and thus ideal for controlling the Tower.  This reasoning
applies in Galina's place, also, and there is the additional point
that she somehow managed to escape capture at Dumai's Wells
<LoC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 690-695>.  However, there is much evidence
against Mesaana being either of these two.

1.  Why Mesaana is Probably Not Anybody That Anybody Knows:
    None of the Forsaken (except possibly Demandred) have copied an already-
    prominent identity.  Rather, they take a little-known or unknown-identity
    and then promote themselves rapidly. This is probably because supplanting
    someone is _not_ easy, requiring as it does almost a total control of
    oneself, and the ability to copy the tiniest habits.  Especially in the
    Tower, where Aes Sedai can doubtless read meaning in the tilt of an
    eyebrow or the tapping of a finger.  And the head of the Red Ajah would
    be someone well-known to a lot of Reds, and Alviarin was also an
    influential White (she convinced her Ajah to side with Elaida).  No real
    easy way to replace either one.  (Admittedly, Mesaana could just be a very
    good actress, but there wasn't really any need for it because of point #4.)

2.  The real clincher: we have a Galina POV episode late in the book, where
    (among other things) she thinks that Min might be a useful tool to "net
    Elaida like a swallow"; "caging [Elaida] would surely weaken Alviarin."
    <LoC: 53, The Feast of Lights, 660>.  Mesaana doesn't need any tool
    to pull down Alviarin; Mesaana can just say, "Call me Great Mistress,"
    and Alviarin would be on her knees rather rapidly (or be taught why
    doing so was a good idea -- compare with Moghedien revealing herself
    to the Black Ajah in TFoH.)

3.  As for Alviarin, when Fain tried to steal the dagger she caught him and
    asked him "Did one of the For- Chosen send you?" <TFoH: 19, 368, Memories,
    260> No Forsaken would use the term Forsaken instead of Chosen.  And if
    she WERE Mesaana, she wouldn't just let him go methinks.  The DO wants
    Fain's hide. (Recall Slayer's original mission in the Two Rivers--to slay
    Fain.)

4.  From <TSR: 5, 115, Questioners, 82>, we know the way the BA is run:
    "Before we left the Tower, I knew only Liandrin, Chesmal and Rianna.
    No one knew more than two or three others, I think." [Amico being
    questioned by Nynaeve and Egwene.]

    From this huge amount of secrecy, we can see that it is possible for
    somebody to run the BA from any position within the Tower. Mesaana
    (who does seem to be pulling strings there, since it is implied the
    capturing-Rand-and-bringing-him-to-the-Tower plot was her plan to get
    her hands on the Dragon Reborn <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 58>.)
    could be anybody, an AS, or an Accepted, or a novice, or a maid.  Since
    it would be much easier to pose as a new student or a servant, instead
    of impersonating somebody else, and possibly being caught out.

As an additional idea, it has been suggested that Tarna, the Red
emissary to Salidar is Mesaana in disguise. Not a lot of evidence for
this, except that in the chapter where Tarna talks to Ny & El <LoC:
13, Under the Dust, 232> the chapter icon is the Forsaken icon, and
there is no other obvious candidate in there to be Forsaken.  Of
course, the chapter icons don't always apply 100%, but every other
chapter in LOC with that icon has a Forsaken, or reference to one, in.
Tarna is good friends with Galina <LoC: 13, Under the Dust, 237>, a
known BA and head of the Red Ajah, so this could be an extensive way
to control the Tower with a Red Amyrlin. There is evidence against
this, too--why would Mesaana run her own errands?  The problem of a
previous history raises its head, here, too.

Survey Says: Who is Mesaana?
     Scullery Maid/functionary:  47% (109)
     Silviana (new Mistress
                of Novices):      5%  (11)
     An Aes Sedai:                4%  (10)
     An Accepted:                 3%   (6)
     Laras:                       2%   (4)
     Danelle:                     1%   (3)

1.45...............................IS LTT FOR REAL, OR IS RAND INSANE?
<Carolyn Fusinato, korda>

So, Rand is hearing voices. Is Lews Therin a real entity, or is he a
product of Rand's taint-maddened imagination?

OPTION ONE: Two minds inhabit Rand's body; Rand and LTT. Implies that
Rand is relatively sane still and his problems can be attributed to
stress, paranoia, fear and another mind trying to take him over and
that Lews is completely insane. However, it doesn't make much sense
for LTT to be talking to Rand. If we look at the other people who have
lived past lives, we don't see this happening. Mat's memories of his
past life/lives are integrated into his own personality. Same with
Birgitte--she doesn't talk to "Marion," she says she was once called
Marion. If LTT _is_ a separate entity, it could imply that Rand is
just some poor sod who happened to be born into the same body that LTT
was reborn into, and that not Rand, but LTT is the actual Dragon
Reborn. OTOH, it was _Rand_ who pulled the Sword that Ain't, not LTT;
he hadn't even shown up then. There is only one case in which we
definitely know that two entities coexist in one body: Ordeith.
However, this wasn't a rebirth.  This theory also neglects to explain
the fact that there is no manifestation of LTT prior to Rand
channeling.

OPTION TWO-- b) The LTT personality is the manifestation of Rand's
encroaching insanity. "...everybody has been telling him he is Lews
Therin reborn, so he starts perceiving Lews Therin is in his head. Not
only that, but he finds the voice responds to him. Now he's trying to
carry on conversations with this voice. It all seems logical to us,
but then it seems logical (sort of) to Rand, as well. I found myself
thinking he should tell somebody he was hearing a voice in his head.
When I thought how absurd this sounded, it struck me that I had been
fooled into thinking Rand was still completely sane." (James Beavens,
[e-mail]) Then, there is also, "He raised the point
that Rand's creeping insanity may manifest in much more subtle ways
than the people of Randland expect..." (from Emmet O'Brien's account
of Jordan's talk at Trinity College in Dublin) This doesn't take into
account that "LTT" knows things that Rand could never have known on
his own--stuff about the AoL, &c. Possibly, Rand's taint-maddened
subconscious could be constructing the LTT voice out of past life
memories like Mat's. That is to say, the memories and knowledge
expressed by LTT are real effects of being somebody Reborn, but the
LTT voice is not, Rand has multiple personality disorder.

Survey Says:
Rand is:
     Going insane, but not there yet:       54% (121)
     sane now, and will not go mad, ever:   30%  (68)
     Sand now, but will go bonkers:         12%  (27)
     Totally insane right now:               1%   (3)

LTT inside Rand's head is:
     LTT reborn into Rand--he's not really
        mad, there _is_ somebody in his head:   67% (150)
     An effect of both Rand being LTT reborn,
        and going mad:                          20% (45)
     A manifestation of Rand's madness:          8% (17)
     None of the above:                          4% (10)

Will Rand lose control to LTT?
     Yes: 62% (139)     No: 31% (69)     Undecided: 5% (12)

1.46......................WHY DID SAMMAEL CLAIM HE HAD A TRUCE W/ RAND?
<Carolyn Fusinato, John Novak, Don Harlow>

1) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael
that there would be no truce and Sammael lied to Graendal. Why would
Sammael lie? All the Forsaken want to be Nae'blis. All the Forsaken
think that Rand stands a chance at becoming Nae'blis if he caves to
the Dark One.  Therefore, all the Forsaken want Rand dead. The Dark
One, on the other hand, most explicitly does _not_ want Rand dead.  He
will punish any Forsaken who kills Rand.  Therefore, all the Forsaken
want to make the other Forsaken paranoid enough to bump Rand off on
their own.  This eliminates _two_ contenders to the title of
Nae'blis--Rand, and whichever idiot kills him.

2) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael
that there would be a truce because someone else intervened to put
Sammael off his guard while Rand readies his counter-stroke from Tear
and the Plains of Maredo. Someone who knew that Sammael's emissary was
meeting with Rand at that moment. Who was present?  Bashere, a
Saldaean named Hamad, some Aiel, and -- hiding behind a column --
Aviendha. CON-Rand should have been able to feel another man
channeling or have experienced goosebumps if Aviendha channeled, and
Sammael's thoughts about manipulating Graendal <LOC: 23, To Understand
A Message, 349> don't make sense if he isn't lying.

Survey Says: Regarding Sammael and the Truce:
     He knows Rand rejected the offer,
             and was lying to Graendal:     80% (180)
     He thinks Rand accepted the offer:     10%  (22)

1.47.......................WHO WILL BE THE DREADLORDS IN THE LAST BATTLE?

{defn OF d-LORD, HERE. FROM GLOSSARY}

1) Black Ajah. Pro: loads of channeling experience, and bossing
people around. Con: not much battle experience, except for Reds who
hunt down False Dragons, and Greens, who do that sort of thing for
fun.

2) Darkfriend sul'dam, with a damane or two as a Power source. Pro:
Battle experience. Con: depends upon a possibly non-loyal damane for
Power. This could cause problems in the middle of a fight. No
experience in using the OP by oneself.

3) Runaway DF damane. Pro: knows how to use OP in battle. Con: not
much experience in commanding things, making decisions, etc.

4) Asha'man. Pro: big motivation to be sworn to the shadow--protection
>from  the Taint. Very skilled at OP in battle. Possibly, a recruiting
agent right in the camp (Mr. Taimendred? I'd like to join the BLACK
tower, if you know what I mean.). Con: Some have less experience in
command, and thus would make poor commanders.

5) DF Windfinders. Not much to say pro or con, since we know next to
nothing about the Sea Folk or Windfinders at all.

6) Male Aiel Channellers: Pro: tradition is to go into the Blight to
fight Shadowspawn until you die. (ObStupidIThinkRJCopiedFrom: Reminds
you of Klingons, no?) Maybe some don't die, but get picked up and
offered a second chance at eternal life, sans taint. Con: the Blight
is NASTY. It's doubtful even an Aiel could survive a long time there,
if he was bent on fighting. Not likely that many survive long enough
to get recruited/13-converted. Plus, nobody has ever SEEN these
supposed Aiel Dreadlords, either in the Blight, at SG, or in Randland.

7) Random Joe Randlander who finds out he can channel. Pro: why not?
again, a great incentive to join up--no taint. If Joe is already a DF
when he discovers channeling, all the more reason. Con: With all
those other great candidates, why would the Shadow bother searching
the populace for the 1:10000+ men who channel?

8) Dreadlord Search Program: Darkfriends are screened for the ability
to channel, and then put into a Dreadlord Training Program. (Liandrin
was recruited as a DF before she ever went to the Tower. She learned
some channeling, too (?))

9) Non-Channelers. Pro: In TGH, Bors thinks he has a chance of being a
Dreadlord, even though he cannot channel. Con: You need to be Fain or
a channeler to have enough power over a fade to command him. We
already know J. Carradin never stood a chance with a Fade. (Beginning
of TDR).

10) No Dreadlords--the DO has something better. Pro: Look at that shiny
new Myrddraal the DO has!  Even the Forsaken are frightened by it. It
can scare channelers, channelers can scare normal Fades, Fades scare
Trollocs. Cut out the middlemen, and make a bunch of Super-Fades to be
dreadlords? What Lord of Evil needs humans anyway? It's not like he's
going to leave them around after he wins, after all. Con: Shadar Haran
is special, we've only seen one of his kind. Maybe the DO can't make
any more like him.  Maybe the DO doesn't want to. SH is too much of a
mystery to assume he is the first of a new model of Fade.

So, who are the New Dreadlords? I pick a mix of choices 1-7, with the
majority being Black AS & DF Asha'man.

1.48.................................WHO IS THE "ONE WHO IS NO LONGER"?

"The key to finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer."
<LOC: 19, Matters of Toh, 312>

Most people think that the One Who Is No Longer is a person. A popular
suggestion has been Moiraine: "I assumed that what they are referring
to is Moiraine.  Lan cannot feel her any more, and since most of us
assume she still is alive somewhere, I took it that she qualified as
"one who is no longer."  Most of us believes that Thom is supposed to
rescue Moiraine at some point in time, and since he is down there,
along with Mat who as been to A/E land twice already, why not now?"
says Jim Ford.

Other suggestions have been Gaidal Cain (the one who is no longer in
T'A'R), Shemerin (the one who is no longer Aes Sedai), LTT (the one
who is no longer sane/alive), and Luc (The one who is no longer in his
body, and maybe even totally dead). Obviously, we need to know "the
one who is no longer" what?

Another possibility is that the one who is no longer is not a person,
but a thing--a building, a landmark, something like that.

1.49.............................................SHADAR HARAN, SUPERFADE
<Bryon Wasserman, Korda>

What do we know about Shadar Haran?

1. The DO holds him in high regard(see the prologue).

2. He has considerable amount of power in his own right. The DO's
favor can be capricious and the forsaken sometimes to not obey him
absolutely (Graendal believes she can get Sammael to kill Rand even
though it is forbidden). Since SH taunts and insults the forsaken he
probably can take care of himself.

3.He may or may not have the ability to keep people, or maybe just
people sworn the the Shadow from channeling.  (If the DO had a great
ability do it to other male channelers or bestow the ability on
someone else, he would not have let them seal the bore.) (RE: the
prologue of LOC where Aran'gar & Osan'gar cannot channel. Both channel
Saidin.)

4. The DO trusts him to give directions to the forsaken and manage
things.

5.He apparently has knowledge of the world to organize Halima's scheme
in Salidar.

6.He has not been visibly active until recently.

7.Unlike the rest of the forsaken he is apparently absolutely secure
in his position

One possibility that has been brought up is that he is Ishamael
re-incarnated.  This would fit criteria 1,2,4,5,6,7 and possibly 3 (we
know from the end of TDR that Ishy has a number of abilities from the
DO). Furthermore, assuming Aran'gar & Osan'gar are Aginor & Balthamel,
this makes us wonder, "If the DO reincarnated those two yutzes, why
didn't he reincarnate his greatest servant, Ishy?" Assuming he _did_
reincarnate Ish, then SH is the only new Evil Dude in LOC, besides
Osan'gar & Aran'gar.  However, Shadar Haran has neither done nor said
anything to indicate that he has had a previous existence, and isn't
just a new model of Fade.  All of SH's attributes can be explained by
assuming that he was specially created by the DO to have those
attributes.

2.0:::::::::::::::::::::::::WORLD STUFF:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

2.1..........................................................THE OLD TONGUE

What is the basis for the Old Tongue?
   A mix of Gaelic, Russian, Spanish, Japanese. Lots of different sources
   not traditionally used to make up fake languages. RJ has only a few phrases
   and a few small guides on usage written down."<Dan Rouk at a book
   signing, 10/94>

Why doesn't the Old Tongue bear any relation to the New Tongue spoken by
Rand & Co?
   It probably does, but RJ has kindly "translated" the New Tongue into
   English so that we can read the books and he can make lots of money :).
   The Old Tongue is not "translated" in order to add "flavor" to the story.
   Think of Tolkien. (Who _did_ create entire languages.) Even he didn't
   write The Lord of the Rings in Middle-Earthish.

2.2....................................................WHAT IS THE TAMYRLIN?

 Probably some sort of leader of the Ancient Aes Sedai.  The Tamyrlin had a
 ring just as the Amyrlin has a seat. From <TEotW: Prologue, xi, Dragonmount,
 xi> Elan Morin grimaced. "Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood
 first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the
 High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you!"

 Possibilities--1) Tamyrlin==Male Amyrlin, 2) Amyrlin==corrupted form of
 Tamyrlin

2.3..........................................HOW DOES BALEFIRE WORK?

"When anything is destroyed with balefire, it ceases to exist _before_
the moment of its destruction;, like a thread that burns away from
where the flame touched it. The greater the power of the balefire, the
further back in time it ceases to exist. The strongest [Moiraine] can
manage will remove only a few seconds from the Pattern...For as far
back as you destroy [something], whatever it did during that time _no
longer happened_. Only the memories remain, for those who saw or
experienced it." <TFOH 6, ??, Gateways, 119> That pretty much explains
it. Something that is BFed is erased backwards in time, the amount of
erasing depends on the amount of Power put into the BF. Rand, at full
power, managed to erase Rahvin back about half an hour.

WHY DOESN'T SOMEBODY JUST BALEFIRE THE DARK ONE?

2.4.........................................................THE SEVEN SEALS

 1) in the eye of the world with the Horn, broken;
 2) Bayle had one, intact, taken by Turak; Moiraine found it after the
    fight, and it was broken by then.
 3) Turak had one. Moiraine found it along with (2). Also broken.
 4) Moiraine found one in the Stone of Tear, intact;
 5) She found another one in Rhuidean, and made a scratch.
 6) Nynaeve found one in the Panarch's Palace, broken on the way to Salidar.
 7) Mazrim Taim gave the last one to Rand, saying it was found in a farmhouse
    in Saldaea.

Survey Says? Will the DO be COMPLETELY freed before the end of the series?
    Yes: 69% (155)     No: 20% (44)     Undecided: 10% (22)

2.5...............................................WHO'S WHO IN THE FAMILIES
 <Family trees by Erica FAQ-Dowager Sadun>

     TRAKANDS & MANTEARS / ANDOR              D A M O D R E D S/
    (rumored to have Aiel blood)              C A I R H E I N
    -=----------------------                  +-----------=LAMAN--=BARTHANES
    | |                    |                  |         |          (cousin)
    | LUC*  (JANDUIN) -+- TIGRAINE(M)m       TARINGAIL  MOIRAINE
    | (M)   clan chief | (Daughter Heir      (heir?)   (half sister
    |       of Taardad |  of Andor ---+---------+      of Taringail)
    |                  |  AKA SHAIEL) |         |
    |                  |              |         |
    |                  |         GALADEDRID     |
    |                RAND                       |
    |                                           |
  MORGASE(T)---------------------+--------------+
                     |
                      GAWYN(T)**
                     &
                      ELAYNE(T)**
                (Daughter Heir of Andor)

                 M A L K I E R I
           ---------------------------------------------
        |                                           |
     LAIN m. BREYAN allied with COWIN         AL'AKIR m. EL'LEANNA
         |                                             |
        ISAM                                          LAN

 * Merges with ISAM, son of BREYAN to form SLAYER
 ** Possibly bastard of THOM MERRILIN, the gray fox
 = Exact links unknown

2.6....................................................HOW OLD IS EVERYONE?
 <Courtenay Footman, Sean Hillyard, Pam Korda>

 RAND: In TFoH, Moiraine notes that it has been almost 21 years since the
   search began for the Dragon Reborn. <TFoH: 15, 301, What Can Be Learned
   In Dreams, 214> That puts Rand's age at about 21, and so he started
   at about 19.
 MAT: the far end of 20 years <LOC REF?>
 PERRIN: about same age as Rand & Mat.
 EGWENE is about the same age as Elayne, 18.
 ELAYNE is 18. <LOC 602>
 MIN is older than Rand, younger than Nynaeve, say 23, starting at 21.
 GAWYN, MAT, and PERRIN are the same age as Rand (21).
 GALAD:  Tigraine disappeared in 972 when he was an infant. Puts him at 27.
 NYNAEVE was just old enough to recall Tam bringing baby Rand back to Emond's
   field--say about 5. That puts her at 26 now, 24 at the beginning. This
   agrees with <LOC p.602 REF?>.
  MOIRAINE was Accepted (and about to be raised Aes Sedai) at the end of the
   Aiel War.  Age approx. 25 (older Accepted Age) + 21 = mid-forties
 LAN was an infant when Malkier fell, which occurred less than 50 years
   from the start of the series. So Lan is something under 50, say mid-40s?
 LIANDRIN is referred to as young, not just young seeming as are all Aes Sedai,
   about 27.
 ELAIDA has about 5 years (was one of the Accepted who watched over her when
   she was a Novice) on Moiraine, late forties-early fifties.
 SIUAN SANCHE is about the same age as Moiraine--mid-forties, although she
   looks very young due to stilling.
 ISAM was a child when Malkier fell, so he is a few years older than
   Lan, say about 50.


2.7.................................................WHAT DOES EACH AJAH DO?

 [Aes Sedai may be translated as 'Servant to All' although they were called
 at times 'Servants of the Light']

 Color       Purpose
 -------------------------------------------------------
 Blue        Meddle in causes
 Red         Prevent another Breaking (i.e., hunt down men who can channel)
 White       Philosophers -"Consider the questions of truth with implacable
          logic"
 Green       The Battle Ajah - "love men"
 Brown       Seekers of old knowledge, librarians
 Yellow      Healers
 Gray        Arbitrators/Mediators.
 Black       Do ya' really need to ask?

2.8..................................................GEOGRAPHY OF RANDLAND
 <Contributors: Sean Hillyard, Pam Korda, Courtenay Footman, Nathan "geographer
  of Randland" Hendrix, Ulrich "the heraldry guy" Schade, Eric C.
  Piquette, Justin Howell. Song by Ruchira and Rupa Datta>

 This land is Rand-Land,
 this land's Egwene-Land,
 from Arad Doman
 to the Aiel Waste-Land.
 From Kinslayer's Dagger,
 to the Dragon's Fingers,
 this land was made by LTT.

>General Notes on Randland/Randworld Geography<

o  Illian is approximately at the same latitude as the Florida Keys <book
signing info, 10/94>.

o The timing of Rand & Avi MPS in the Snow <tFoH: 31, ?, The Far Snows,
362> is not an error. It is properly indicative of where (part of) the
Seanchan Empire is located. Seanchan has parts in the north & south
hemispheres, Rand & Avi were in the south. <book signing info, 10/94>

Note on Heraldry:
  Randland heraldry sometimes violates our heraldic rules.
  According to our heraldic rules, "white" is the same as "silver."
  "White" is used if the banners are given in their simple version,
  "silver" is used in their normal version. The same holds for
  "yellow" (simple) and "gold" (normal).
  According to our rules, "silver" and "gold" count as "metallic"
  in opposition to "red," "blue," "green," and "black," which
  are colors. In banners metal and color have to alternate. That means
  if the symbol is metallic, it has to be put on a colored field. If
  the symbol is in color, the field is metallic. Thus, every banner
  includes "gold" or "silver." <Ulrich Shade>

>Altara<
General: Capital: Ebou Dar. Very wild country, with the women running
    things. Lots of dueling. Neat daggers, which contain a bit of family
    information on them. Interesting dress styles.
Gov't: Nominal Monarchy. Actually, The monarchy exercises very
      limited control over the country. Current ruler: Queen Tylin.
Current events: Fractious as always. Border disputes with Amadicia and
    Illian. Salidar AS army marching north, with the Band of the Red Hand
    paralleling them. El, Ny, Mat, and a few others are looking for a bowl
    ter'angreal which can bring rain. The Seanchan may be preparing
    to invade Ebou Dar.
Tourist Attractions: [What's the name of the Queen's palace?]
Home of: Can't think of anyone important.

>Amadicia<
General: Capital: Amador. Apparently a younger country, as Amador was not
    built by the Ogier. Fractious relations with Altara, Murandy, and
    Ghealdan. Participated in the Whitecloak War against the coalition of
    Altara, Illian, and Murandy.
Banner: Six-pointed silver star on a red thistle on a field of blue.
Gov't: Technically a Monarchy, in actuality controlled by Pedron Niall and
    the Whitecloaks. [What's the king's name? I can't remember!]
Current Events: The northern third or so of Amadicia is occupied by the
    Prophet Masema and his followers, who have routed the
    Amadician national army and appear to have done well against the
    Whitecloaks. The border with Tarabon has been sealed (and moved a few
    miles west). The Whitecloaks are gathering in Amador. Internal
    tensions between Pedron Niall and the Questioners are growing,
    including a possible coup d'etat in the planning stage.
    Pedron Niall has been busy opposing Rand in subtle ways (Tear,
        Cairhien, Altara, Murandy, Illian, Ghealdan). Morgase is here,
    and has been pressured into signing a treaty with the Whitecloaks
Home of: Pedron Niall, Jaichim Carradin, Jared Byar, Geofram Bornhold,
    Dain Bornhold.
Tourist Attractions: Dome of the Light

Survey Says: Will Niall reinstate Morgase to the Lion Throne?
     Yes: 13% (30)     No: 77% (172)     Undecided: 7% (16)

 >Andor<
 General:  Capital city, Caemlyn.  Oldest city-state in Randland,
      established not long after the breaking, with Queen of Andor
      the oldest title in Randland.  Unique traditions of sending
      the heir and expected first prince to train in the White
      Tower, and having an open Aes Sedai advisor.
Banner: White lion on a red field.
 Rulers:   Matriarchy, with a male advisor and head of the army
      called the First Prince of the Sword.  Ruled for the
      last twenty years by Queen Morgase of House Trakand.
      Heir to the throne (Daughter-heir), Elayne.
 Current events: Queen Morgase missing, presumed dead. Lord Gaebril, aka
      Rahvin dead. The Dragon Reborn is holding the throne for the
      Daughter-Heir, Elayne, although there are rumors that she is dead.
      The Two Rivers district has seemingly declared independence. Growing
      discontent among the nobility.
 Home of:  Morgase, Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Gareth Bryne, "Lord Gaebril,"
      Tigraine/Shaiel, Lord Luc
 Tourist Attractions: Palace gardens, reached by climbing Palace wall.
 Map: <TEotW: (before) 13, 172, Choices, 144> (partial map of Andor)
      <TFoH: (before) 54, 906, To Caemlyn, 642> (map of Caemlyn)

>Arad Doman<
General: Capital: Bandar Eban. Currently in total civil disorder.

>Arafel<
General: Capital: Shol Arbela. One of the Borderlands.
Banner: Three white roses on a field of red quartered with three red
    roses on a field of white.
Gov't: Monarchy.
Current Events: Clashes between Pro- and anti- Dragon factions. The
    Blight border is quiet. I believe there was a False Dragon here
    a few years back. Possible border clashes with Kandor or Shienar.
Tourist Attractions: Lotsa military stuff.

 >Cairhien<
 General: Capital--Cairhien. National Pastime--Game of Houses, played by
     everyone from the king to Commoners.  The previous king, Laman,
     caused the Aiel War by chopping down the Tree of Life sapling to make
     a throne.  Highly dependent upon grain imports from Tear & Andor.
Banner: Many-rayed golden sun rising on a field of sky blue.
 Gov't: Monarchy. Last king: Galldrian of House Riatin (assassinated 998 NE
     by Thom Merrilin). The Dragon, Rand Al'Thor plans to put Elayne Trakand
     of Andor on the Cairhien throne, soon as he finds her.
 Current Events: The recent assassinations of Galldrian and the strongest
      contender for the throne (Lord Barthanes) have left the other Houses
      fighting one another in a random war of succession, leaving the
      country in a state of anarchy. Andor was beginning to look at the
      Cairhienin civil war as an opportunity to expand its borders. To make
      matters worse, the country was recently invaded by a bunch of renegade
      Aiel. The Dragon Reborn has taken power, defeating the Aiel, but has
      yet to find the woman he intends to put on the throne.
 Tourist Attractions: Largest (& most powerful) male-oriented sa'angreal,
      Royal Library--largest collection of knowledge outside Tar Valon.
 Home of: Moiraine, Taringail

>Ghealdan<
General: Capital: Jehannah
Gov't: Monarchy; Queen Alliandre.
Current Events: The False Dragon Logain ripped through here at the
    beginning of the series, defeated some AS sent to stop him,
    and departed, possibly at the instigation of the Red Ajah.
    Suffered serious riots due to the presence of the Prophet in
    which thousands died. Alliandre is the fourth monarch on the
    Ghealdan throne in the last year (two of the previous three are dead,
    and one is currently married to some businessman), the others
        having been toppled by the Prophet's followers (in one way or
        another). The situation is probably still unstable. Alliandre
    has secretly communicated her support for Rand.
Tourist Attractions: There probably aren't any left standing.
Home of: Alliandre, Logain.

 >Illian<
 General: Capital--Illian. Starting point for the Great Hunt for the Horn.
      Traditional enemy of Tear.  Climate--Hot and Humid
Banner: Nine golden bees on a field of dark green.
 Gov't: Mixed government, with a King, a House of Lords (the council of
          Nine), and a House of Commons (the Assemblage)
 Current events: Outset of the Great Hunt. Escalating hostilities between
       Illian and Tear (closing of borders, trade forbidden). Council of Nine
       dominated by Lord Brend, aka Sammael. Really, really big army
       forming outside its borders to invade them. Construction and
    occupation of hill fortifications facing the Plains of
    Maredo. It appears Illian is undergoing full mobilization (it
    would make sense for Sammael to draft everyone that can hold
    a weapon). Something going on between Elaida's AS and Illian.
    Illian agreed to an anti-Dragon alliance with the Whitecloaks.
    [There might have been problems with Altara recently, but it
    could have been a rumor.]
 Tourist Attractions: King's Palace, and its copy, the Hall of the Council
 Home of: Bayle Domon

>Kandor<
General: Capital: Chachin. One of the Borderlands.
Banner: rearing red horse on a field of pale green.
Gov't: Monarchy.
Current Events: Clashes between Pro- and anti- Dragon supporters. The
Blight border is quiet. Possible border clashes with Arafel.
Tourist Attractions: Lotsa military stuff.

 >Malkier<
 General:  _Was_ one of the borderlands, located N of Shienar. Destroyed due         to treachery of the last king's sister-in-law (Breyan) and Cowin
     Fairheart (Great Lord & Darkfriend).
 Banner: Golden crane in flight.
 Gov't:  Monarchy. Last king--al'Akir Mandragoran. Uncrowned heir--
      al'Lan Mandragoran.
 Current  Events--Doesn't exist anymore, has been swallowed up by the
           Blight
 Tourist  Attractions: Ruins of the Seven Towers, the 1000 Lakes
 Home of:  Lan, Isam, Jain(m) Farstrider
 Map: <TEotW: (before) 46, 688, Fal Dara, 578> (with Shienar)

>Mayene<
General: City State on the Sea of Storms, traditionally oppressed by Tear.
Banner:  Golden hawk in flight on a field of blue.
Gov't:   Monarchy-like. Current ruler: ``The First'' Berelain sur
         Pendrag of house Paeron. Ruling line said to be descended from
    Artur Hawkwing.

>Murandy<
General: Capital: Lugard. Very fractious country. Allied with Altara and
    Illian against Amadicia in the Whitecloak War. Hostile to Andor.
Gov't: Loose confederation of lands controlled by various lords. Possibly
    there is a nominal king?
Current Events: Unstable as always. Logain was defeated by the AS in
    Murandy in the beginning of the series. Hasn't declared for or
    against the Dragon yet, like Altara.
Tourist Attractions: The Nine Horse Hitch Inn :)
Home of: Padan Fain

>Saldaea<
General: Capital: Maradon.
Banner:  Three silver fish on a field of dark blue.
Gov't:   Monarchy. Current ruler: Queen Tenobia.
Current Events: Has been having troubles all throughout the series. The
         False Dragon Mazrim Taim ripped through here, gave Davram Bashere
         a hard time, was captured, escaped, and is possibly supporting Rand
         in Andor and at Dumai's Wells. Tenobia is still in charge, and
         appears to have consolidated her position, and there are rumors
    that she has retired to a country estate. Clashes between Pro-
    and anti-Dragon factions. Davram Bashere is in
         Andor with a chunk of the army. The Blight border is quiet.
Home of:  Faile, Davram Bashere, Mazrim Taim.

 >Shienar<
 General: Capital city--Fal Moran.  Due to its location (borderlands),its
       society has a strong militaristic streak. Quaint local
       fashion--fighting men shave their heads, except for a
       topknot.
Banner: Stooping black hawk.
 Gov't: Monarchy, current king--Easar of house Togita
 Current events: Held off Trolloc hoard at Tarwin's Gap (with a little
     help from their friends). Small-scale battles between pro- and anti-
     Dragon factions.
 Tourist Attractions: Lotsa military stuff, nice signal towers
 Home of: Ingtar, Lord Agelmar, Lady Amalisa, Uno, Masema, Hurin
 Map: <TEotW: (before) 46, 688, Fal Dara, 578>

 >Tarabon<
 General: Capital--Tanchico. Local fashion: women wear their hair in
     numerous little braids, men and women wear veils. Symbol--tree.
Banner: Tree.
 Gov't: Monarchy-ish. There are two independent monarchs, the King and the
     Panarch, each has his/her own duties.
Current events: Tanchico (and probably some surrounding territory) has
    been occupied by the Seanchan. Probable scattered resistance to the
    Seanchan invasion. Probable desultory civil war with continued
    Dragonsworn troubles. The Whitecloaks have closed the
    border between Amadicia and Tarabon.
 Tourist Attractions: Panarch's museum--artifacts from past ages,
    Illuminators' Guild
 Home of: Liandrin, Aludra
 Map: <TSR: 38, 618, Hidden Faces, 429> (map of Tanchico)

>Tear<
General: Capital: Tear. Other cities: Godan. Traditional enemy of Illian.
Banner: Three white crescent moons slanting across a field of half red,
    half gold.
Gov't: Council of High Lords. Now directly ruled by the Dragon.
Current Events: Fall of the Stone of Tear to Rand and the Aiel, and the
    death of Be'lal and Ishamael. Rebellion in Haddon Mirk.
    Tairen army invaded Cairhien, and part of it is massing for an
    invasion of Illian.
Tourist Attractions: Stone of Tear
Home of: Juilan Sandar, Siuan Sanche

 >Two Rivers<
 General: Collection of farming communities bounded by the Mountains of
     Mist, the R. Taren, and the White River. Products--tabac &
     wool. The people have a reputation of stubbornness. Quaint local
     fashion--girls wear their hair loose, women wear it braided.
 Gov't: Although it is officially part of Andor, it "has not seen a tax
     collector in six generations, nor the Queen's Guards in seven."
     Each autonomous village is run by two elected bodies--the Women's
     Circle (women), headed by the Wisdom, and the Village Council
     (men), headed by the Mayor. If there is a need for inter-village
     action, it is negotiated by the mayors or Councils of the villages
 Current events: Hunting ground of Slayer (aka Lord Luc). Overrun by
     Trollocs & Whitecloaks as part of Ordeith's plot against Rand.
     Trollocs & Whitecloaks alike dealt with under the
     leadership of "Lord" Perrin. Large influx of refugees from the west.
 Tourist Attractions: Eldrene's Veil, Master Al'Vere's clock
 Home of: do ya have to ask?
 Map: <TEotW: (before) 1, xviii, An Empty Road, xviii>
 Historical Note: In ancient times was Manetheren, destroyed in the Trolloc
       Wars. Sign of Manetheren: Red Eagle

Survey Says: Will there be a New Mantheren?
     Yes: 73% (163)     No: 18% (41)     Undecided: 7% (16)


2.9..........................................IS THERE RELIGION IN RANDLAND?
<Erica Sadun, P.Korda>

 "By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth, I swear to serve you
 in whatever way you require for as long as you require, or may the Creator's
 face turn from me forever and darkness consume my soul."
 <TFoH: 1, 51, Fanning The Sparks, 39>

 A: YES, but not much.  It is pretty secular.  It may be closer to many
 pagan religions or in some cases to Judaism rather than Christianity.
 However, like x'ty, there is a dualism between the light and the creator
 who are often spoken of separately and together. Like Judaism, burials
 are as simple as possible to encourage return to the earth. <TGH: 10, 178,
 The Hunt Begins, 151> Like the religions of old merry England, the maypole
 is a fertility ritual. <TEotW: 1, 10, An Empty Road, 8-9> Like Catholicism,
 children are taught catechism <TEotW: 1, 14, An Empty Road, 12>.  Wisdoms
 act as priestesses. Like Judaism, marriage is a public announcement to the
 community. <TSR: 53, 890-1, The Price of Departure, 618>
 This does not even begin to touch on the religious aspects of the Aes Sedai.
 They have novices (like nuns), they are considered to be 'servants of all',
 the rituals of acceptance and joining the sisterhood are rigid with
 many religious overtones.  They are expected to serve the Light and the
 will of the creator when they join the Aes Sedai.  They are almost Buddhist
 in certain ways: in particular the view of the time serpent, the wheel of
 time and the age lace. The Children of Light are another religious
 organization, in this case a religious organization in turmoil with
 inappropriate goals and methods.  Finally, we have the Tinkers, a religious
 cult more or less who follow the early  Xtian/Calvinist 'Way of the Leaf', a
 cross between pacifism and acceptance of fate <TEotW: 27, 412, Shelter from
 the Storm, 346>.  -- Erica

 OTOH, in Randland, the Creator _is_. The DO _is_. No one disbelieves
 in their existence; they are _there_. They are far more concrete and present
 in everyday life than our God(s) is/are in our lives. If you cross the Blight
 to Shayol Ghul, you will find a mountain with a hole in its side and evil
 leaking out. Thus, many of the rituals and other trappings of _organized_
 religion are unnecessary in Randland. Just because we don't see worship going
 on very often doesn't mean it's not being done. Scratch a Randlander, and
 you'll find a quite religious person 9 times out of 10, would be my guess.
 There just isn't quite the need to formalize it the way we do, except on
 occasions which, by their nature, are already formal... i.e. funerals,
 weddings, harvest, etc. Just my humble opinion. -Jocelyn

 Randlanders pray to the Creator for favors, such as relief from the drought.
 <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 36>

2.10..............................WHO ARE THE FORSAKEN?  WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
 <Mark Looi, ETC.>

 Q: Who are the Forsaken and where are they at the moment ?

 The Forsaken were 13 of the most powerful Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends.
 They went over to the Dark One's side during the War of the Shadow.  Legend
 has it that they were sealed with the Dark One when the Dark One's prison
 was re-sealed.

 The 13 Forsaken (in alphabetical order) are

 *AGINOR (M):  Killed at the Eye of the World (by drawing too much of the
     One Power) <TEotW: 51, 756-9, Against the Shadow, 634-5>. Probably
     resurrected as Osan'gar. He was involved in creating the various
     Shadowspawn.

 *ASMODEAN (M):  Real name Joar Addam Nesossin <TFoH: 45, 727, After the
     Storm, 516> aka Jasin Natael.  Thought by many to be the weakest
     & most cowardly of the Forsaken. Captured by Rand and shielded by
     Lanfear at Rhuidean <TSR: 58, 973-8, The Traps of Rhuidean, 674-7>.
     Toast at the end of TFoH...Twice! No body was found, so most people
     in Randland do not know he is dead, just that he has vanished. The
     DO is unlikely to resurrect him, since THOSE WHO BETRAY [the DO] WILL
     DIE THE FINAL DEATH.

 *BALTHAMEL (M):  Killed by the Green Man at the Eye of the World <TEotW: 50,
     751-2, Meetings at the Eye, 630-1>. Probably resurrected as Aran'gar.

 *BE'LAL (M):  aka High Lord Samon of Tear, balefired by Moiraine in the
     Stone of Tear <TDR: 55, 651-2, What is Written in Prophecy, 557>.

 *DEMANDRED (M):  Real name Barid Bel Medar. Dislikes Rand/LTT
     intensely. <TSR: 58, 975, The The Traps of Rhuidean, 677>.  Turned to
     the Shadow because he got tired of being second-best to LTT <TFoH: 3,
     105, Pale Shadows, 76-7>, <LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 56-7>,
     whom he considered his intellectual inferior in the AoL.
     Possibly involved with the Seanchan <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow,
     135>, also possibly masquerading as Mazrim Taim.

 *GRAENDAL (F):  Known to currently have a long string of young men and women.
     In the habit of taking aristocrats and making them serve in some
     demeaning aspect, using enough compulsion to fry their brains to make
     them useless, though a conservative player for all that. Currently in
     Arad Doman, having taken over somebody's palace. She has one  of the
     World's Greatest Generals working for her, and it seems as though
     all the reported chaos in Arad Doman might not be quite as chaotic
     as it first appears. She appears to visitors as an enfeebled old
     lady. Before turning to the Shadow, she was a celebrated psychiatrist
     in the AOL <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 130-9>, and an acetecist.
     (is THAT a word?)

 *ISHAMAEL (M):  Real name Elan Morin Tedronai, aka Ba'alzamon. Probably killed
     by Rand in Tear <TDR: 55, 666, What is Written in Prophecy, 570>. The most
     philosophically-minded of the Forsaken, he came up with many theories on
     the nature of the battle between the Creator and the DO <LoC: 6, Threads
     Woven of Shadow, 133>. Believed by many to be the most powerful Forsaken.

 *LANFEAR (F):  Real name: Mierin <TSR: 58, 973, The Traps of Rhuidean, 676>,
     aka: Selene, aka Keille, aka Silvie.  Former lover of LTT (Rand).
     May be toast or in Aelfland.

  Survey Says: What happened to Lanfear at the docks?
       She is alive & still has full Power:               54% (120)
       She is alive and is burnt out (can't be Healed):   17%  (38)
       She is dead:                                        8%  (19)
       She is alive and stilled (can be Healed):           8%  (17)

 *MESAANA (F): The long-anticipated Forsaken in the Tower. <LoC: 6, Threads
     Woven of Shadow, 138>. Was rejected by the Collam Dam, so instead
     of being a researcher, she ended up a teacher. Feels uneasy around
     Semirhage (Don't we all? :).

 *MOGHEDIEN (F):  aka Gyldin, aka Marigan.  Captured by Nynaeve in Tanchico,
     but escaped <TSR: 54, 909-13, Into the Palace, 631-3> believed to be the
     strongest Forsaken in Tel'aran'rhiod <TSR: 52, 864, Need, 599>.  Captured
     by Nynaeve in Salidar and forced to teach her and Elayne.  Released by
     Aran'gar and summoned to SG <LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 697-8>.  May be
     in big trouble for letting herself get captured, but will probably get
     a chance to redeem herself.

 *RAHVIN (M):  aka Lord Gaebril.  Was active in Caemlyn <TDR: 46, 534-40, A
     Message Out of the Shadow, 452-7>.  Balefired by Rand in tFOH.
     <TFoH: 55, 948, The Threads burn, 672>

 *SAMMAEL (M):  Real name Tel Janin Aellinsar <TFoH: 45, 727, After the Storm,
     516>, aka Lord Brend of Illian <TDR: 44, 508-9, Hunted, 429-30>.  Was
     given scar by LTT, hates Rand.  <TFoH: Prologue, 35, The First Sparks
     Fall, 28>.  Always wanted to be taller. A great military leader.

 *SEMIRHAGE (F):  Has a penchant for gruesome torture.  Whereabouts unknown.
     Hates Lanfear. Is very tall, with dark skin & eyes, and likes
     wearing black. Was a brilliant healer who took payment in
     extracting extra pain from her patients.

     Survey Says: Where is Semirhage?
       Seanchan: 16% (36)     Borderlands: 4% (9)     Salidar: 2% (4)
       Saldaea:   7% (17)     Sheinar:     2% (5)
       Tar Valon: 4% (10)     Amador:      2% (5)

2.11......................................ALL THE AES SEDAI (WAS BLACK AJAH)
 <Emma Pease>

 *Black Ajah

 2 of each Ajah except red (1) for a total of 13.  Still unknown are
 the 1 gray, 2 blues, 1 yellow.  ?? means either former Ajah or
 country unknown

 NAME                 AJAH    ORIGIN       COMMENT
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Liandrin             red     Tarabon      leader
 Joiya Byir           white   ??           eldest and dead at Tear
 Rianna Andormeran    white   Kandor       white streak in hair
 Marillin Gemalphin   brown   ??           likes cats
 Eldrith Jhondar      brown   ??           arranges for cats to go away
 Jeaine Caide         green   Arad Doman
 Asne Zeramene        green   Saldaea
 Chesmal Emry         yellow  Ghealdan     (one of the best healers known)
 Temaile Kinderode    gray    Cairhien     blue eyes,dark hair,vulpine,cruel
 Amico Nagoyin        ??      ??           youngest and dead at Tear
 Berylla Naron        ??      ??           lean, manipulative
 Falion Bhoda         ??      ??           long-faced
 Ispan Shefar         ??      Tarabon      dark-haired

 *Elaida's council consists (to start with) of 4 reds, no blues, 1 each
      of yellow, green, and brown, 2 or 3 each of gray and white.
      [not sure whether she is including herself and Alviarin in the
      count]

 Elaida, Amyrlin Seat (red)
 Alviarin, Keeper (white, Black)

 Teslyn, red, Illianer
 Javindhra, red
 Danelle, brown
 Joline, green
 Shemerin, yellow  (to be "arrested and reduced to Accepted", according
        to paper's in Elaida's study <TFoH: 49, 819, To Boannda, 581>)
 Andaya, gray
 Evanellein, gray

 *The council at Salidar seems to be

 Sheriam, leader, blue
 Carlinya, white
 Myrelle, green
 Anaiya, blue
 Movrin, brown
 Beonin, gray


 *Other Aes Sedai, current & former (stilled/dead/disappeared/etc)


 *BLUE AJAH
 Siuan Sanche, formerly blue, Tear, Amyrlin Seat, Warder Alric (dead,
      TSR), stilled (TSR), at Salidar (TFoH), unstilled(LoC)
 Leane Sharif, blue, Arad Doman, Keeper of the Chronicles, Warder unknown,
      stilled (TSR), at Salidar (TFoH), unstilled (LoC)
 Moiraine Damodred, blue, Cairhien, vanished(TFoH), Warder (was) Lan
 Maigan, blue, was at Fal Dara in TGH.
 Aeldene, blue, heads the Blue Ajah's eyes and ears network, missing in
      TFoH.

 *RED AJAH
 Memara, red, sent to Saldaea by Elaida's council

 *BROWN AJAH
 Verin Mathwin, brown, very old, Warder Tomas, in Two Rivers (TFoH)
 Serafelle, brown
 Andeleas, brown, very old lives in Arafel with her sister,
      Vandene, Warder Jaem?
 Takima, brown, teaches history
 Phaedrine, brown, at Salidar

 *WHITE AJAH
 Brendas, white, part of the group that healed Mat

 *GREEN AJAH
 Alanna Mosvani, green, Arafel, same age as Sheriam, Warder Ihvon
 Vandene, green, very old lives in Arafel with her sister,
      Andeleas, Warder Jaem?
 Myrelle, green, on the council ruling at Salidar (TFoH),
      Warders are Nuhel Dromand (Illian), Croi Makin (Andor), Avar
      Hachimi.  Rumored to have Married all three of her Warders
      against custom. New Warder--Lan
 Kiruna Nachiman, green, Arafel, rumored to be the sister of the king
      of Arafel. At Salidar, Sent to the waste to find Rand
 Bera Harkin, green, at Salidar, Sent to the waste to find Rand

 *YELLOW AJAH
 Ryma, yellow, caught by the Seanchan
 Another slender yellow was part of the group that went to Fal Dara.
 Ananda, yellow, Min sees her dying
 Edesina, yellow, slender, Min sees a silver collar around her that shatters
 Therva Maresis, yellow, slender, at Salidar
 Nisao Dachen, yellow, short
 Dagdara Finchey, yellow, tall, wide, grey haired, very skilled healer
 Narenwin Barda, yellow, heads yellow ears and eyes network

 *GREY AJAH
 Sierin Vayu, gray, Amyrlin before Siuan, dead

 *AJAH UNKNOWN
 Marras, unknown, probably in charge of the gardens since Faolain was
      sent to her to do some gardening.
 Silviana, mistress of novices under Elaida (TFoH)
 Saroiya, mentioned as an Aes Sedai that someone played a trick on some
      20 plus years ago.
 Gitara Moroso--She had the Foretelling.  She told Tigraine to join
 the Maidens of the Spear, and she died informing the Amyrlin before Sierin
 Vayu, Siuan Sanche, and Moiraine Damodred that the Dragon was Reborn.

 *ACCEPTED: Pedra, Irella, Faolain Orande (at Salidar), Theodrin (at
      Salidar), Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne, Emara (either novice or
      accepted, at Salidar), Verine (dead TFoH [killed by Fain])
 *NOVICES: Sahra (dead TSR), Else (no longer), Tabiya (at Salidar)

 *IMAGINARY: Sharina (mentioned to Nynaeve in the ter'angreal)
         Beldeine, green, Keeper to Egwene inside the ter'angreal
         Gyldan, black, seen by Egwene in the ter'angreal

2.12..........................................WHO ARE THE AELFINN AND EELFINN?
 <Erica Sadun, Sean Hillyard>

     Strange tricksy critters who live in other dimensions. They are
     also known as the Snakes and Foxes for their appearances and have
     long-standing tricksy relationships with humans: giving gifts
     and answers... at a price.
     <TSR: 28, 462, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 323> Birgitte arrives to chat
     up Perrin and talks about the Tower of Ghenjei and the game of Snakes
     and Foxes.  "...there's no way to win." "Except to break the rules,"
     she said. "'Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron
     to bind.'" Poor Mat should have known about these rules, but he's
     tricky and he cheats. Notice that every time Mat is using his "luck",
     he seems to be humming. This may be related.
         We know that The tower of Ghenjei is a route to the realms of the
     Aelfinn & Eelfinn. We also know that the Seanchan, the offspring of the
     "hammer" (Paendrag) hold their symbols to be the tower and the raven.
     And WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW, Mat who is due to marry the Daughter of
     the Nine Moons, the heir to the  court of Seanchan and who is already
     mixed up with the snakes and foxes just happens to have a magic spear
     with ravens on it.  In fact, if you re-regard the inscription on the
     spear, it just may have to do with the Seanchan's bargain and not that
     of Mat.
          "Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made.
          Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades.
          What was asked is given.  The price is paid."
          <TSR: 26, 439, The Dedicated, 307>
     Remember also, that those marked with the raven are property of the
     court of the Seanchan empress. The other object given to Mat was the
     foxhead.  And ITS eye is the symbol of the Aes Sedai. <TSR: 37, 606,
     Imre Stand, 426>  Boy, this gets complicated, doesn't it?  When Mat
     arrives in the Rhuidean door (foxes), he is greeted and asked about
     the "old treaty".  The snake people back at Tear were very insistent
     that he show up at Rhuidean -- insistent enough to answer a whole lot
     of extra questions. Once he gets there, he's given an object which
     directly mentions something about the treaty.

 What we know from the Tear doorway.
      There seems to be some kind of agreement concerning the use of the
      door.  Anyone may enter who does not bring a way to make light, iron
      or instruments of music.  The snakes will then answer three questions.
      What do they get out of it?  According to Moiraine:
      "Sensations, emotions, experiences.  They rummage through them; you
      can feel them doing it, making your skin crawl.  Perhaps they feed
      on them in some manner.  The Aes Sedai who studied this ter'angreal ...
      spoke of a strong desire to bathe afterward." <TSR: 15, 257, Into the
      Doorway, 179>. In addition, the presence of two ta'veren seemed about
      to shake down the whole place.

 What we know from the Rhuidean doorway.
      The foxes also speak of a treaty in using the doorway.  Again, no iron
      or musical instruments, or ways to make light.  Again, there is the
      prickling of the skin as memories are rummaged through.  However, for
      the foxes this does not seem to be payment enough for their services.
      Apparently a 'price' has to be negotiated before 'agreements' are made.
      Mat lucks out (of course) and asks for a way out as one of his
      agreements (It seems extremely likely that he would still be there
      without that), but they still exact a price out of him, and from what
      we can infer of it, it was not pleasant.

 Aludra: I have finally figured out Aludra's entire raison d'etre: the matches.
 Now how can Mat/Thom get over to Nynaeve to get some matches before he heads
 off to A/Eelfland?

Survey Says: Who will go to A/Eelfland? (more than one choice)
     Thom:   62% (138)     Nynaeve:  9% (21)     Nobody: 5% (12)
     Mat:    52% (116      Birgitte: 8% (17)     Aludra: 4%  (9)
     Perrin: 34% (77)      Elayne:   8% (17)     Lan:    4%  (9)
     Olver:  12% (26)      Egwene:   7% (16)     Avi:    4%  (8)
     Rand:   10% (22)      Faile:    6% (14)     Juilin: 3%  (6)

2.13.....................................WHAT ARE THE SONGS (NOT >THE SONG<)
 Jeffrey Scott Raglin reports: The Songs of the Wheel of Time:

 Key: ==:These songs have the same tune, but different lyrics and or names
 in different areas.
 ?: No title is actually given; the title is inferred from the lyrics

 Berin's Retreat==The Wind from the North==Hard Rain Falling
 Blue Sky Dawning
 Cock o' the North
 Colors of the Sun==Jolly Jaim==Rhea's Fling
 Coming Home from Tarwin's Gap
 Dance With Jak 'o the Shadows
 Darling Sara==Ferry O'er the River
 Drawing Water From the Well
 Ferry O'er the River==Darling Sara
 Goodman Priket's Pipe==River Iralell?
 Hard Rain Falling==The Wind from the North==Berin's Retreat
 Heron on the Wing
 I Have Loved a Thousand Sailor Men
 I'm Down at the Bottom of the Well
 Jolly Jaim==Rhea's Fling==Colors of the Sun
 Midean's Ford
 Mistress Aynora's Rooster
 My Love is a Wild Rose
 Old Jak's Up a Tree
 Only One Boot
 Only One Bucket of Water
 A Pocket Full of Gold
 Pretty Maids Dancing==Three Girls in the Meadow
 Rhea's Fling==Jolly Jaim==Colors of the Sun
 River Iralell?==Goodman Priket's Pipe
 Rose of the Morning
 She Wore a Mask That Hid Her Face
 The Lugard Girl?==The Dancing Lass
 The Dancing Lass==The Lugard Girl?
 The Fool Who Thought He Was a King
 The Song of the Three Fishes
 The Old Gray Goose
 The March of Death==The Grand Passions Cycle, Movement 4
 The Grand Passions Cycle, Movement 4==The March of Death
 The First Rose of Summer
 The Wind That Shakes the Willow
 The Old Black Bear
 The Road to Dun Aran
 The Old Two Rivers Leaf
 The Tinker Has My Pots==Toss the Feathers
 The Wind from the North==Hard Rain Falling==Berin's Retreat
 The Drunken Peddler==Tinker in the Kitchen
 The Color of Trust
 Three Girls in the Meadow==Pretty Maids Dancing
 Tinker in the Kitchen==The Drunken Peddler
 Toss the Feathers==The Tinker Has My Pots
 Two Horses Running=Two Kings Came Hunting
 Two Kings Came Hunting==Two Horses Running
 Wash the Spears?
 We're Over the Border Again
 What He Said to Me==Will You Dance With Me
 Wild Geese on the Wing
 Will You Dance With Me==What He Said to Me

2.14...........................................WHAT ARE THOSE CHAPTER ICONS?

"I have come here to lick chapter icons and kick ass.  And I'm all out
of chapter icons." <Joe "Uno" Shaw>

Serpent and Wheel: Aes Sedai, Wheel of Time, Ta'veren
Ravens: Darkfriends, other minions of the DO
Dragon's Fang: Darkfriends, other minions of the DO, or Rand
Harp: Thom Merrilin
Leafless tree at night: Traveling through woods?
Heron-mark sword hilt: Rand
Two leaves from the Tree of Life and Moiraine's staff: Moiraine (TEotW only)
Flame of Tar Valon: Aes Sedai, Saidar
Sunburst: Whitecloaks
Leaves/A Leaf: Ogier, Loial, Waygates, Nynaeve, Wise Women, Tinkers
Horned skull, trident and a paw: Trollocs
Wolf: Wolfbrother, Perrin
Lion Rampant: Andor, Elayne.
Gnarled, Withered Tree: The Blight
Ruby-Hilted Dagger: Shadar Logoth Dagger, Mat, Padan Fain.
Horn: The Horn of Valere
Portal Stone: Portal Stone
Rising Sun: Cairhien
Insect-Like, Horned Helmet: Seanchan
Tree with lots of leaves: stedding, Ogier
A'dam: damane, a'dams
Female silhouettes (One Black, One White): Black Ajah, the hunt for them
Dice (FIVE): Mat   "(Note the five sixes..Yahtzee!!)" -- Joe Shaw
Crescent moon and stars: Lanfear, Daughter of the Night.
      This one is really note worthy.  This icon appears when we
      meet the peddlers (aka Lanfear and Asmodean) in the waste.  Had
      I realized it was Lanfear's icon, I would have realized then that
      one of them was Lanfear disguised.  Also the same when she appears
      to the girls as Else. -- Judy G.
Dream Ring: Tel'aran'rhiod
Waves: A journey over water
Dragon: Rand
8-pointed star and birds: Sea folk
Two spears & a shield: Aiel
Bull: Gareth Byrne
Elephant: Valen Luca's traveling menagerie
Full Aes Sedai symbol of old: Rand, the Dragon Reborn--"under this sign will
       he conquer"
Snakey square: Forsaken

2.15...............................................WHAT DID OGIER DO OF OLD?
<Windsor Williams>

 Basically, I'm wondering about the role of the Ogier in pre-Breaking
 society. From what we know in general, the stedding did exist during
 the period, but the Ogier were not bound to them by the Longing as they
 are at the time of the series. So it seems reasonable to assume that
 they were fairly common everywhere, although most common in and around
 the stedding.

 We know they were involved with the seed singing (as per the "through
 the eyes of Coumin" scene <TSR: 26, 432-3, The Dedicated, 302-5>), but what
 other roles did they have? Some clues exist:

 Ogier soldiers - also from the Coumin sequence, right at the beginning
 <TSR: 26, 431, The Dedicated, 302>
 "He could see the next field, lined the same way, beyond the soldiers
 with their shocklances sitting atop armored jo-cars. A hoverfly buzzed
 overhead in its patrol, a deadly black metal wasp containing two men.
 He was sixteen, and the women had decided his voice was finally deep
 enough to join in the seed singing."
 "The soldiers fascinated him, men and Ogier, the way a colorful poisonous
 snake might. They _killed_."  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 The "men and Ogier" phrase seems to imply that there were Ogier soldiers
 as well as humans. (At least, it does to me.)

 Ogier as police or enforcers - again, from the Coumin sequence

 <TSR: 26, 434, The Dedicated, 304>
 "Abruptly something struck Coumin in the mouth and his legs buckled; he
 was pushing himself to his knees before he realized he was down. A hand
 put to his mouth came away bloody. He looked up to find an angry-faced
 townsman standing over him, nursing a fist. 'Why did you do that?' he
 asked.
 "The townsman spat at him. "The Forsaken are dead. Dead, do you hear?
 Lanfear will not protect you anymore. We will root out all of you who
 served the Forsaken while pretending to be on our side, and treat the
 lot of you as we treated that crazy old man.
 "A woman was tugging at the man's arm. 'Come away, Toma. Come away, and
 hold your foolish tongue! Do you want the Ogier to come for you?'
 Suddenly wary, the man let her pull him away into the crowd."

 "Do you want the Ogier to come for you?" and the man's response argue
 that the Ogier were enforcers of peace/police of some sort, and effective
 ones as well. I'm guessing that they would come for him for the killing
 of Charn ("that crazy old man"), but maybe it's his statements, instead?

 I hadn't thought of Ogier in terms of soldiers or police before, but these
 passages caught my eye while re-reading the series. We've been told at one
 point or another that old tales refer to Ogier as bad opponents, who rarely
 get angry but are very dangerous when they do. (I can't recall the exact
 place...something about Perrin and some line about Ogier and mountains.
 Anyone else recall where this is?)

 We've seen Loial play an important role a couple of times already (knowing
 the Ways, closing the Waygate in the Two Rivers), but I'm starting to think
 we may see quite a bit more of the Ogier before the series ends.

2.16.................................WERE THERE AJAHS IN THE AGE OF LEGENDS?
 <Bill Garrett, Pam Korda>

 RJ said, at a signing, that there were not Ajahs in the AoL. The Ajahs
 were formed within a few hundred years after the Breaking. The colors of
  the Ajahs were probably representative of something in the AoL or a previous
 Age, because the Ajah colors are the colors surrounding the Portal Stones.

 A possible, even probable, scenario of the forming of the Ajahs  is:
 Perhaps the AS argued about what was most important... a few said,
 "we must find and stop all the
 male channelers who have gone mad!" while others said, "we must fight
 the Shadowspawn and stay ready to fight them should they return."
 Others might have placed importance on healing the wounded and
 stopping the ravage of disease.  Then some said, "We must manipulate
 the governments of the people to make sure they are always ready."  A
 few bookish sorts might have thought it was more important to preserve
 old knowledge to keep it from getting lost, and to gather more knowledge.
 "What will happen in troubles to come if our descendants forget even the
 meager things we've learned so far?"

2.17................................WAS THE SHAROM THE DARK ONE'S PRISON?

No. Demandred's analysis <LOC Prologue, The First Message, 15> implies
that the DO is imprisoned OUTSIDE the world/Pattern, in some sort of
"Dungeon Dimension." (Read Pratchett for connotation.) The Bore is a
kind of thinning of the universe, a weakness in the space-time
continuum, by which the DO can reach out of the Dungeon Dimension to
affect/enter the Real World. From the RJ Online Q&A session on
Compuserve (19 October, 1994), RJ says, "The sharom and the collam
dam are a university/research center." So, the Sharom was some sort
of HEP (High-Energy Power) research facility that Meiren & Beidomon
used to create the Bore.

2.18....................WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SKIMMING & TRAVELING?
<John Novak>

 Skimming requires knowledge of destination and Traveling requires
 origin <TFoH: 6, 169, Gateways, 121>.  For example, Aviendha Travels
 to Seanchan which she obviously doesn't know a thing about, but she
 knew the bathroom real well.

 Skimming is like getting somewhere by placing yourself on a highway
 system.  You can take as many people as you can fit in your vehicle,
 and as long as you know where you are going you can get there.  Thus
 you need to know where your destination well in order to get there.

 Traveling is like placing a phone call to somewhere and shifting yourself
 through the phone lines.  Thus if you know how to use a telephone (ie you
 have knowledge of the place that you are at) you can place a random phone
 call and hook up with some place that you have never been (what Aviendha
 did) but if you know the number, you can call wherever you want, and go
 someplace specific.

2.19...WHAT'S UP W/THE MALE-FEMALE A'DAM LINK WHERE THEY BOTH DIE SCREAMING?

 In <TGH: 40, 573, Damane, 484>, Egwene's sul'dam describes how the Empress
 will sometimes make a man wear the bracelet of the a'dam.  Sometimes nothing
 happens, and sometimes "both die, screaming."  We see something similar
 happen in <TFoH: 32, 522, A Short Spear, 370> when Rand tries to free the
 damane in Seanchan.  What's happening here?  Well, it seems as if the men who
 are affected by the a'dam are those who can channel, or who have the ability
 to learn.  According to Elayne's study of the a'dam, it works by creating an
 uneven link between channelers, in which the bracelet holder has complete
 control.  So possible explanations for the "die screaming" effect are:
 1) a male & a female are linked, with the man in control.  A female must
 control such a link due to the nature of the OP.  So the a'dam link is
 backwards, which could have a bad effect.  2) Possibly, they find
 themselves each touching the wrong half of the Source, and cannot stand
 to do this, and consequently experience immense pain and have their
 pitiful lives snuffed out by the overbearing power of the wrong half of
 the OP pouring through their frail bodies. 3) Putting a male in the
 _a'dam_ link somehow creates a "short circuit" in the One Power, frying
 both participants in the link unless they break it pronto.

2.20...........................WHAT ARE THOSE BLACK THREADS ON THE FORSAKEN?
<Robyn Goldstein, P. Korda>

 When Rand battles the male Forsaken, he sees black threads, wires, or
 cords running off from them. This is seen when Rand battles Ishy in
 <TEotW: 51, 759-62, Against the Shadow, 637-40>, and Asmodean in <TSR:
 58, 965-972, The Traps of Rhuidean, 671-675>. So what's the deal with
 these strings?

 The thick black threads are the Forsaken's connection to the DO.  The
 connection with the DO is what keeps the male Forsaken from falling
 prey to the madness taint of saidin (see Asmodean's statements to
 Rand in TSR after his black "thread" was severed).  Rand's thread in
 TEotW was silver and thinner because it was from that pure pool of
 saidin that was the Eye of the World.

 We've never seen the threads on a female Forsaken, so it is possible
 that the threads are themselves the protection from the taint. Perhaps
 they act as a kind of filter on saidin, or a conduit through which the
 DO siphons off the taint when the Forsaken draws upon the Source.

2.21................................."BINDING"? WHAT'S THAT ALL ABOUT?

<Summarized by Daniel L. Rouk, edited by Pam Korda>

To fully illustrate the argument that binding refers to the Oath Rod,
check Graendal and Sammael's conversation.  Graendal is showing off her
Shara rulers.  While discussing the Shara channelers, Sammael asks her
if they 'bind themselves like criminals'. <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of
Shadow, 136>

Sammael thinks he's revealing something Graendal didn't know, but she
thinks about how she found out from Mesaana <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of
Shadow, 138>.  We find out Mesaana is in the White Tower.  The only
'binding' that we know about that occurs in the White Tower is the
bonds willingly taken by Aes Sedai via the Oath Rod.  [Not so: it
could also refer to the AS/Warder bonding.]

Next scene: <LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143>  Semirhage is
torturing the Aes Sedai, and thinking on how she was 'wronged' because
the Age of Legends Servants didn't understand why she gave a little
pain with her healing.  After all, nobody complained when they owed
their life to her.  She recollects that she was given two choices, to
be severed, or to accept binding.  The actual quote is "to be bound
never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see
the end of life approach,"  This illustrates that 'binding' is in fact
as Sammael said, something done to criminals.

>From these two scenes we can pretty well conclude that the Oath Rod was, in
fact a tool to restrict criminals.  Other aspects of the Oath Rod, such
as if it is one of the mythical Nine Rods of Dominion, are not answered.
If the Oath Rod is simply a punishment device then my opinion is that
it is not a Dominion Rod, and that these are something else.

The second half of Semirhage's comment, "and with that binding be able
to see the end of life approach," has been interpreted by some to mean
that swearing an oath on the Oath Rod somehow causes one's lifespan to
be shortened, and this is why AoL AS lived longer than modern AS.
Another thing quoted in support of this theory is the Aiel WO who is
said to have died at age 300 of a snake bite, but looked quite young
still. <LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 262> These two things are not really
enough to justify this theory.  _Everybody_ in the AoL lived
longer--possibly something to do with the Tree of Life, or it could
simply be that there was better medical care, etc in the AoL. There
has never been any evidence that WOs or Seafolk Windfinders (who
haven't sworn the Oaths) live an inordinately long time, or that the
BA live longer than non-Black AS, or even that ordinary AS live so
much shorter than one would expect.  In fact, AS live longer than your
average Joe.

Survey Says: Does swearing on the Oath Rod shorten one's lifespan?
     Yes: 46% (103)     No: 42% (93)     Undecided: 10% (23)

2.22............................................Did LTT Balefire himself?
<Emmet O'Brien, Korda>

No. He died by ODing on the One Power. RJ said so at the talk he gave
in Dublin in November 1993.  Plus, if he'd BF'd himself, his soul
wouldn't be available for reincarnation, a la Rahvin, I guess.

2.23..............................................HOW TALL IS EVERYONE?
<Erica "nonentity" Sadun, book signing, 10/94>

Rand--6'5"-6'6". Perrin--6'2". Mat 5'11". Aviendha 5'8"-5'9". Elayne
5'6". Nynaeve 5'4". Egwene 5'2". Moiraine 5'0-5'2".

2.24.................................WHERE DID ARTUR HAWKWING COME FROM?
<Emma Pease, John Novak>

Artur Hawkwing might have originated in Tear. (Or at least in the area
presently known as Tear.) Why?

1. The symbol of Tear is three crescent moons.  A symbol of the
Seanchan (descendents of Hawkwing's armies) is nine moons.

2. Artur hated Aes Sedai.  The rulers of Tear hate Aes Sedai.  Not
much as a fair number of people do but Tear has a law against
channeling which is more than any country except Amadicia.

3. Tear had a king before Artur but doesn't after.  Perhaps they chose
no king because no king could live up to what Artur did.

4. The Mayene firsts claim to be descendants of Artur.  Perhaps a bit
of a stretch but Mayene may have been part of Artur's original lands
and after his death his surviving heirs retreated to it (as a place
where they had many supporters) and split off from Tear.  Hence one of
the reasons the Tairen high lords are so intent on regaining Mayene is
that they consider it part of Tear.  We know that Mayene did not exist
as a separate country before the 100 years war.

4. Tear has never fallen yet Artur ruled all the land between the sea
and the spine.  One way would be if he ruled Tear not by conquest but
by right of birth or election if the Tairen high lords elected a king
from among their numbers just as lords of the land were raised to be
high lords when a high lord died.  Note also that Seanchan were also
promoted to being lords without necessarily a blood right.

5. Tear and Seanchan are the only countries who use the title "High Lord."

2.25..................................................WHAT DO DREAMERS DO?
<Emma Pease>

1. Entering T'A'R.  We know that regular people can do this though are
not usually aware that they are doing so.  At times the forsaken seem
to pull people into T'A'R (the dreams the boys have in EoTW for
instance).  Also Dem thinks when he sees Elayne in T'A'R (LoC) that
she has a ter'angreal of the sort the AoL used to teach students how
to enter T'A'R.  My guess is this skill can be taught to any AS and
perhaps to anyone.

2. Entering other people's dreams.  This is what Egwene does with
Gawyn's dream and also the skill the Wise Ones use to pass messages
around.  This does seem to be specific to 'dreamers'.

3. Foreseeing via dreams. This can also be done by Wolfbrothers.

2.26.............................Can Black Ajah Break the Oaths?

Yes. In <TSR: 38, 863, Hidden Faces, 438>, Liandrin wishes she had the
ability to kill with the Power, like Chesmal (another BA. This implies
that Chesmal can, and has done so.

In <TFoH: 34, ??, A Silver Arrow, 394>, Liandrin attacks a wounded
Moghedien, attempting to Compell her.  Moggy strikes back, and
Liandrin says, "Y-you do not understand, Great M-mistress...I only
wished to help you to have the good sleep." This was DEFINITELY not
her intention. Her intention was to have Moggy be her obedient slave.
A few pages later, Liandrin tells Moggy that she will be Moggy's
"faithful dog," and in the next sentence tries to get Temaile and
Chesmal to try to betray Moggy. If she meant one, the other must be a
lie. In <TFOH: 19, ??, Memories, 260>, Alviarin says to Fain, "Now
answer my questions, or two corpses will be found here in the morning
instead of one." (The one being the dead Accepted--see? the dagger
does leave a corpse.) Fain thinks to himself, "There would be two in
any case, whether he answered her with suitable lies or not; she did
not mean to let him live." Obviously Fain thinks she can lie, and do
you really think Alviarin  meant to let him go?

2.27...........................WHERE DO TROLLOCS AND MYRDDRAAL COME FROM?
<Robert Jordan>

WARNING: >>NOT<< FAMILY NEWSFROUP MATERIAL. IF YOU RECENTLY ATE LUNCH,
SKIP THIS SECTION.

{I wrote a letter to RJ in the early months of 1995. One question I
asked was, "Where do Trollocs come from? Are there male and female
Trollocs that mate? Are there only male Trollocs that mate with
animals and/or humans to reproduce?  Are Trollocs neuter, grown in a
big vat at Shayol Ghul? Enquiring minds want to know!" I got a bit
more of an answer than I'd bargained for. --pam}

"You know the original source, of course...a blending of human and
animal genetic material in an effort to produce the "perfect"soldier,
though as envisioned by somebody who had never seen combat. Yes, there
are female Trollocs, though you don't want to know more than
that...there was a clear statement of this actually--that Trollocs
breed--when where Myrddraal come from was explained. Sometimes a
Trolloc off-spring is a throwback, but not all the way back to human,
and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with keen vision, very strong indeed
though not in Trolloc-class, able to vanish into shadows & reappear in
other shadows...There are no female Myrddraal; not even the laddie who
made the Trollocs in the first place knew why...Myrddraal must have
their "pleasures" with captured human women...there is no possibility
of cross-breeding--it was tested, during the War of the Power, in the
crudest sort of way; the Myrddraal isn't sterile, but its sperm kills
both human and Trolloc ova--and the sex practices and other attributes
of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity
for six months, but very few do." {did I ask about the sex practices
of Myrddraal? No, I didn't think so.} "For the record, a Trolloc could
also have sex with a human...they are now two completely incompatible
species, so there isn't any possibility of offspring--the Forsaken
tested that out too...Trollocs are just not interested in human women
sexually; to them, humans are just another food animal...Trollocs are
of fairly low intelligence (I told you the designer was never in
combat), so they would think of it about as we would having sex with
sheep, though they would do it if ordered to. They'd just like it
better if they could eat her afterwards." <Robert Jordan>

And, of course, the diapers of baby Myrddraal don't wave in the
 wind. :) -pam

2.28.......................WHAT IS THE RANGE ON SENSING OTHER CHANNELERS?

A channeler can sense another channeler, under various conditions:

1) A female can sense another female, even if neither of them are
holding the Source at the time. This is a skill which takes some time
to learn. If one is really good, it is not necessary to see the other
woman in order to know she is there. (One of the Tower AS sensing Eg
in Cairhien.) In addition, a female can tell when another is embracing
the Source, by a great glow surrounding the channeler.

2) Females cannot naturally sense male channeling. It may be that
they can do so through the use of some sort of OP trick.

3) Male channelers can sense female channeling, by a prickling
feeling on the skin. There is some range on this, but I dunno what.

4) Male channelers can sense male channeling, as well as other men
holding the source. <LOC, 2, ?, A New Arrival, ?>The sensing is not as
obvious as when females sense other females. The range is less: And
here is another quote which contradicts the idea that men can sense
men far away: "Women who could channel saw a glow surrounding another
woman who had embraced saidar and felt her channeling clearly, but he
never saw anything around Asmodean, and felt little. <TFOH,?,?,?,75>.
This is with Asm is in the same room.

However, there seems to be some confusion of exactly _how_ far this
range is. When Rand is running around trying to balefire the hell out
of Rahvin, *even though Rahvin is holding saidin*, Rand can't feel
where he is. Also, Asm describes trying to locate another man
channeling is "Like trying to find a lion in high grass." <REF: FOH?>
{NB this quote may be bogus, nobody could find it, but I haven't taken
it out, because than I will forget to look for it.} After a Draghkar
attack on Rand's camp, Asmodean tells him that he had sensed the
Draghkar, but had not done anything about it, since he thought Rand
could deal with it, which he did. Rand replies: "'Well for you that
you didn't,' Rand cut him off, sitting cross-legged in the dark.  'If
I had felt you full of saidin out there tonight, I might have killed
you.'  "The other man's laugh was shaky. 'I thought of that, too.'"
<FOH: 22, 405, Birdcalls by Night, 287> This little snippet of
conversation seems fairly clear.  Rand obviously felt capable of
sensing Asm from as far away as Rand was from Asm during the fight.
Also, in LOC, Rand says to Taim: <LOC: 42,The Black Tower, 545> "If I
feel a man channel in Caemlyn...and don't think you can stay far
enough from the Palace that I won't feel it and be safe."  (NB: Rand
may just be bluffing, here. Or it might just be something along the
lines of "If I hear you use that sort of language in this house, young
man, I'll wash your mouth out with soap!") Rand was able to sense
lightening from Sammael (He thinks it is Sammael, at least) during the
battle of Cairhien.  <TFOH: 44, ?, The Lesser Sadness, 495> Maybe the
ability to sense male channeling is dependent on the strength of the
particular flow being channeled.  This seems to be implied by
Asmodean when he talks to Rand about blocking Aviendha's gateway to
Seanchan: "I felt your weave - anybody within a mile could have felt
it - I never saw anything like it - I didn't know that anyone but
Demandred could block a gateway that was closing."<TFOH:?,?,?,374>

3.0============================TRIVIAL PURSUITS=============================

 Diverse references, sources, allusions, parallels, etc...

 Robert Jordan says:

      "There are elements from Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and American
 Indian mythologies, to name just a few.  I think it adds resonance to the
 story, although I've taken great care not to follow the older material in
 any slavish way.  Occasionally, I will add in details here or there, and
 then discover that I have done something that is absolutely authentic to
 the myth I was working from." <From Waldenbooks 'zine _Hailing Frequencies_,
                    issue #4, reported by Edmund Wong>

3.1..................................................ARTHUR & THE HOLY GRAIL
<Erica Sadun, Korda>

     * Moiraine = Morgaine/Morgan De Fay
     * Morgase = Morgause
     * Tigraine = Ygrainne
     * Egwene = Guinevere
     * Artur = Arthur
     * Callandor = Sword in stone
     * Galad = Galahad _or_ Mordred
     * Gawyn = Gawain
     * Green Man = Green Knight or Green Man (worshiped by Celts)
     * Sa'angreal = San Greal (Holy Grail) or Sang Real (Holy Blood).
     * Wound in side = Fisher King (via Bible)
     * Nynaeve = Nyneve/Vivian (Nemesis of Merlin)
     * Perrin = Parcival
     * Merrilin = Merlin
     * Lan = Lancelot
     * Damodred = Mordred
     * Elayne = ?Elaine? (Lancelot's Wife)
     * Luthair Paendrag = Uther Pendragon (Now Artur's son vs. his Father)
     * Tar Valon = Avalon
     * Elyas, Aram, and Demandred's names are all similar to names of
       Arthurian knights, but I do not remember the actual names.

 Min's vision of Rand's funeral bier:
     In the Arthur legend (or at least the version I've read) Arthur is
     severely wounded and on his deathbed and Bedivere witnesses his
     being taken away on a funeral boat and ferried to Avalon to await
     the time when he is needed again.  The only others on the ship are
     three women: 1)Arthur's half-sister Morgan Le Fay (the sorceress)
     2)The Queen of North Galys 3) The Queen of the Waste Land. It is
     doubtful that RJ means for Rand's women to mirror Arthur exactly.
     It is probable that the women will be Elayne, Min, and Aviendha.
     Add to this the visions in LOC involving 3 women & (probably) Rand
     on a boat.

 And, of course, the fabulous Sword in the Stone


3.2...........................................................TROLLOC TRIBES

 <TEotW: Glossary, 798, entry "Trollocs", 668>
 Ahf'frait=Afrits, Bhan'sheen=Banshees, Dha'vol=Devils, Dhai'mon=Demons,
 Dhjin'nen=Djinns, Ghar'ghael=Gargoyles, Ghob'hlin=Goblins, Gho'hlem=Golems,
 Ghraem'lan=Gremlins, Ko'bal=Kobolds, Kno-gmon=Gnomes Al'ghol=Ghouls.

3.3.............................................................FUTURE EARTH
<Erica Sadun, Korda>

 Survey Says:  Is Jordan's world under the Wheel our future earth?
     Yes: 52        No: 28

"Time is a wheel. If you look in one direction, you are looking at
the past.  If you just turn around and look in the other direction,
you are looking at the future.  The books are set in our future
_and_ in our past, depending on which way you look..."<RJ, second
America On-line conference, 10/20/94>

 <TEotW: 4, 51, The Gleeman, 43>
 John Glenn:
   "Tell us about Lenn," Egwene called.  "How he flew to the moon
    in the belly of an eagle made of fire.  Tell about his daughter
    Salya walking among the stars." (Eagle has landed.../Lenn may be
    a merger of LEM (lunar module) and Glenn)

 Salya:  Salyut (Russian for star) OR Sally Ride

 Moscow, ICBMS:
     Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of Fire that could reach around
     the world.

 America: Merk the other giant.

 Queen Elizabeth:
     Alsbet, queen of all. (Remains of British Empire/Commonwealth?)

 Mother Theresa: Materese the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind

 Anne Landers: Anla, the wise counselor?

 <TSR: 24, 396, Rhuidean, 277>
     Gautama Buddha: Ghoetam under the tree of life

 <TSR: 11, 209, What Lies Hidden, 146-7>
 In Tanchico Museum at the Panarch's Palace:
     1. Stylized Three-Pointed Triangle (reeking of greed & pride)
           --Mercedes Benz logo
     2. Skeletons of Giraffe and Elephant

 <TGH: 49, 678, What Was Meant To Be, 574>
     Loial is reading 'To Sail Beyond the Sunset'

 <TGH: 47, 660, The Grave Is No Bar to My Call, 559>
     "Michael instead of Mikel. Patrick instead of Paedrig. Oscar instead
     of Otarin." St. Michael and St. Patrick? I don't know of a St. Oscar.

 <TEotW: 24, 357, Flight Down the Arinelle, 300>
     Bayle Domon mentions a "mountain hollowed into a bowl, and in its
     center, a silver spike a hundred spans high, and any who comes
     within a mile of it, dies."   This could possibly be a big radio
     telescope, or maybe the Age of Legends equivalent.


3.4......................................................CHRISTIAN PARALLELS

 (Compare) the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve clans of the Aiel.
 In fact, Jordan mentions that there is (maybe) a thirteenth clan.  This
 clan is credited with building Rhuidean -- the holy place (temple if you will)
 of the Aiel.  The Israelites also had a people charged with taking care of
 the Ark of the Covenant as well as the religious ceremonies within the temple
 (especially within the Holy of Holies) and those people were the Levites. A
 tribe not counted among the twelve, so in effect a thirteenth tribe also.

 Craig Levin points out that the Levites are counted in the 12 Tribes.
 It's just that Joseph's descendants split into 2 tribes later on, and
 the Levites don't get land, it is their job (theoretically) to care for
 the Lord's Temple and other altars across Israel. Which is even
 better, since there was the Jenn/other Aiel split, and the Jenns' job
 was to take care of Rhuidean/the temple.

 Rebirth/Reborn notion of the Savior.  (Although this savior is going to
       do major damage before defeating the evil one).  The blood of the
       lamb versus Rand's blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul.Wound in the side
       a la the Cross. Sea Folk saying Aes Sedai would wash Dragon's feet with
       their hair

 Masema = Saul/Paul: Anti-Rand to rabidly pro-Rand. Also, Masema =
 John the Baptist--the "voice crying out in the wilderness" proclaiming
 the coming of the savior and all that.

 Seven Seals = Seven Seals of Solomon? (revelation)

 "Peace be on you always," Elyas replied, "and on all the People." He
     hesitated, then added, "I will find the song, or another will find
     the song, but the song will be sung, this year or in a year to come.
     As it once was so shall it be again, world without end."..."Peace be
     on you," Elyas said. "And on you," Raen said sadly.
     <TEotW: 27, 412, Shelter from the Storm, 346>
     The former reminds me of the Catholic (maybe Christian in general -
     I'm not sure) prayer called the Glory Be. It goes: "Glory be to the
     Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is
     now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." The latter quotes are
     reminiscent of the closing of a Catholic Mass, where the priest pronounces
     "Peace be with you" and the people respond "And also with you."<J.Vessey>

 At Easter mass this past spring, I saw an adult baptized for the first
     time in the Catholic faith. They get the person to kneel, pour water over
    their head, and say something like "Now you are sealed". I don't recall the
     exact words, but "sealed" was in it for sure and I recall thinking Jordan
     must be Catholic.  Sounds a lot like becoming Accepted to me.<Judy G.>

 In <TGH: 26, 387, Discord, 326> we have the prophecy: "twice dawns the day
     when his blood is shed.  once for mourning, once for rebirth." This is
     very similar to the darkening of the sun when Christ is crucified: from
     <Luke 23, verse 44-5>: "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a
     darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  And the sun was
     darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst."<Pam Korda>

 <Zach Simpson>
 Matthew 10:34-36 (TEV)
 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world.  No I did
 not come to bring peace, but a sword.  I came to set sons against
 their fathers, daughters against their mothers......a man's worst
 enemies will be the members of his own family." cf: TFOH tailer
 prophecy: "And what was once did come again--in fire and in storm
 splitting all in twain. For his peace...was the peace...of the sword.

 In LOC, some of the rumors about Rand say that he was born of a woman
 touched by no man <LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 78>.

3.5.............................................................RANDOM NAMES

 Ba'alzamon       =  Ba'al, Baelzebub, or Ba'al Shamin (literally, "the
                     lord of the heavens," an appellation of Ba'al.)
 Sammael          =  Either a member of Lucifer's host, or another name for
                     Lucifer himself (depending on one's source)
 Graendal         =  Grendal from Beowulf
 Rahvin           =  Raven--harbinger of evil. Or, Ravana/Ravan, a demon in
                      Hindi/Hindu (which one?) mythology who abducts Sita,
                      Rama's wife, in the
                      Ramayana. (cf Morgase & Sita: Both Queens, both fall
                      under the power of a demon/forsaken, in both cases
                      there are doubts by other characters about whether they
                      were willing or no) <Emma Pease>
 Lanfear          =  French l'enfer--name for hell.
 Shai...   .      =  (well you KNOW who this is) : Satan
               [Will Baird notes:Shai...is the Muslim name for
               Satan literally.]
 Be'lal           =  Belial, Biblical demon, Old Testament
 Asmodean         =  Asmodeus, Biblical demon, Old Testament
 Tarmon Gai'don   =  Armageddon, Book of Apocalypse
 Paaren Disen     =  Paradise, Biblical Genesis
 Wild Hunt        =  Wild Hunt, of Christian or Celtic legend
 Bel Tine         =  Beltane, a Druidic holiday
 Shayol Ghul      =  Sheol, Hebrew for hell; Ghul->Gol or Gul, Arabic
               for Demon.
 Semirhage        =  Legendary Assyrian queen Semiramis, noted for her
               depravity (see Herodotus) [thanks Tony Z!]
 LTT/Lord of
     The Morning  =  Lucifer--the morning star?

 Telamon  =     another character in the Iliad who we might recognize is
                Aias, (Roman: Ajax) one of the most powerful and respected
                warriors of the Greek army.  Because there was
                another, unrelated warrior with the same name, Aias was
                also known by his father's name, Telamon. <Peter Smalley>

 Myrddraal =         ?Murder All?

 Lothair Mantelar =  (Founder of Children of Light)= ?MARTIN LUTHER?

 Aginor =     "Recently, a friend of mine had to read the _Iliad_.
               (Homer's story of the Trojan War)  In Book 21,
               a character named Agenor attacks Hektor, and is
               defeated.  Not much is said about him (Agenor) other
               than that he is "blameless and powerful", and knew
               that Hektor was stronger than he was.  He attacked
               anyway, figuring that while Hektor was much more
               combat-capable, Agenor had the gods on his
               side, not to mention the fact that even the powerful
               make mistakes.  In a few minutes, Hektor defeats
               Agenor, and Apollo surrounds the loser "in a thick
               mist", and transports him back to Troy.  Some
               interesting  parallels between this an TEotW's final
               battle: Both Aginors knew that his opponent was more
               powerful Both were full of pride Both attacked
               anyway." <Mike O'Malley>

 Birgitte =          Brigit/Brigid, Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, smithing,
                     and/or healing.

 Ishamael =          Ishmael: In Genesis, Abraham's eldest son (to an Egyptian
               serving girl Hagar) was called Ishmael. Apparently
               Abraham's wife took a disliking to young Ishmael and
               pressured Big Abe into exiling Ish and Hagar into the
               desert. There is a quote about "every hand raised against
               him" some-where but I can't remember it.

 Mesaana =            Possibly from Messalina, the notorious third wife of
                      Tiberius Cladius Drusus Nero Germanicus, Emperor of Rome.

 Selene =             Selena, a Roman, Greek, or otherwise classical (different
                      people have told me different things, and I haven't had
                      time to look it up) goddess of the moon. (Hence the icon)

Tuatha'an =           Tuatha De Danann, "People of the Goddess Danu." A magical
                      race of beings who were supposed to have inhabited
                      Ireland at the time of the arrival of the Milesians
                      (i.e. humans).

Illian   =            Ilion, aka Troy, as in the _Iliad_.

3.6...........................................................DRAGON LEGENDS
 <Randy Cerveny>

 Taken from Man, Myth and Magic (volume 5, pages 693-4):

 "The most striking of these is that the dragon in China is not, as in
 the West, a representative or symbol of the powers of evil.  On the
 contrary, according to the old Chinese Book of Rites, the dragon as
 the chief of all scaly animals is one of the four benevolent spiritual
 animals.  This reflects the general principle stated by Jung that
 'every psychological extreme secretly contains its own opposite,'
 which is expressed in Chinese thought through the classical doctrine
 of Yang and Tin.  That this principle underlies the dragon's
 transformation into a beneficent being is confirmed by Wang Fu's
 statement that the dragon's scales number 117, of which 81 are imbued
 with Yang and 36 with Yin, because the dragon is partly a preserver
 and partly a destroyer.  Yang is also the male element and, as its
 representative, the dragon also became at an early period a symbol of
 the Emperor, and appeared on the Chinese flag.  During the Manchu
 dynasty, the dragon was held in especial esteem, and everything used
 by the Emperor was described in terms of it: there was the dragon
 throne, dragon bed and so on.

 "Although Chinese dragons appeared at favorable moments to presage
 periods of prosperity, and had been known to emit foam which had
 supernatural powers of fertilization, they could also, when offended
 or disturbed, cause a drought by gathering up all the water of a
 district in baskets, or they could eclipse the sun.  To propitiate
 them, the Chinese flew dragon kites, especially at the mumming parade
 in the New Year."

3.7..........................................................NORSE MYTHOLOGY

 <Greg Wheatley, Chad Orzel, Jonathan Vessey, Erica Sadun, Pam Korda>

 1) MAT & ODIN: Has anybody failed to notice that Mat is being set up as Odin,
      complete with wide brimmed hat, a spear with ravens drawn on it which
      are named "Thought" and "Memory", coincidentally enough the names of
      Odin's ravens and will in the future almost certainly lose an eye?
      Also, it seems to me there was a Norse myth involving Odin agreeing
      to be hung from Yggdrasil (or some other unpronounceable Norse thing
      like that) in order to gain wisdom or power or both (he really went
      in for this self-sacrifice thing...)- a definite parallel to Mat
      being hung from the Tree o' Life in Rhuidean.

 2) MIDGARD SERPENT: wound around the roots of above tree, often envisioned as
      a symbol of eternity--a large serpent swallowing its own tail. Sound like
      any famous Aes Sedai jewelry we know?

 3) HEIMDALL'S HORN: Heimdall's job was to guard the Rainbow bridge into Asgard
      against the Giants. During the Last Battle (Ragnarok), he was to blow the
      horn to signal the arrayed gods and _dead heroes_ that it was time to
      fight.  cf. Horn of Valere. Granted, there are differences - the Heroes
      are bound to the Horn and not to a specific cause,and they live in T'A'R
      rather than the afterlife as such (where they'd fight all day, cutting
      each other to pieces, then get healed at day's end. Always got a kick
      out of that - sounds like a real heavenly afterlife to me), but the
      concept of dead heroes waiting around for the final battle stays the same

 4) BAD GUY UNDER THE MOUNTAIN: Here is the origin of the archetypical
      Evil Dude Imprisoned in a Mountain. Loki, the Norse "Evil God,"
      (more properly the god of chaos, but he was the antagonist of the
      other gods) was chained up in a cave after he killed the god
      Baldur.The legend
      was that he would escape or be freed just before Ragnarok.

 5) PERRIN = THOR?? Is it just coincidence that Perrin is impressively
     muscled and has a big hammer, just like a certain Norse god of
     thunder?

 6) RAND = TEW/Tyr: Tew was a Norse god of war and of justice. This is a
     parallel with Rand bringing strife to Randland, and with his concurrent
     attempts to rule justly and by the rule of law. Tew's arm was
     snarfled off by the monstrous wolf Fenri (Perrin?) when the gods
     chained him. (The gods thus defeated one of their greatest enemies, at
     the loss of one of their greatest assets, Tew's right (fighting) hand.)
     More evidence for Rand losing a hand.

RJ said at a signing in Atlanta that he deliberately made Mat like
Odin and Rand like Tew/Chew.

3.8........................................................STEDDING & CHINA
<Sadun>

 The Ogier seem to have named their stedding after places in China:

 Shangtai = Shanghai, or Taishan (one of the sacred mountains) backwards.
 Cantoine = Canton (But "Canton" is not really "Canton" -- it's "Guangzhou".)
 Taijing = Beijing, or some combination of any number of places whose
   names start with Tai (Taishan -- see above -- Taiyuan, etc.) and any
   number of capitols/ former capitols (Beijing, Nanjing ...)
   (Above two stedding mentioned in <TGH: 36, 520, Among the Elders, 439>
 Tsofu = An unfortunate tasteless high protein food?

3.9.....................................................NATIVE AMERICAN STUFF
<Emmet O'brien, P. Korda>

Wolfbrother--partly derived from the Coyote trickster/hero figure, of
whom both Mat & Perrin reflect aspects.

The history of the da'shain Aiel is based on the history of the
 Cheyenne Indians during their several-generation migration from east
 of the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains -- a period in which every
 man's hand was raised against them. Similarity between words 'shain'
 and 'Cheyenne' noted by me after hearing this.<Don Harlow at a signing>

 3.10.................................................MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCES

 1) Birgitte in Conversation:
      Maerion: Maid Marion
      Mathena: Athena/Artemis
      Zheres: Teiresias? Orion?
 Actually, it was the goddess Artemis who turned the hunter into a stag so he
 would be killed by his dogs, after he saw her bathing.  Athena was also
 surprised by Teiresias while bathing, but she blinded him and gave him the
 gift of second sight in return.

 2) Birgitte's silver bow seems straight out of Greek Mythology. Artemis
    had a silver bow, to match her brother Apollo's golden one.

 3) Sammael == Napoleon? Sammael is described as a great militarist. He is
    short. His symbol is the golden bee, same as Napoleon.

 4) Fisher King--a king in the legend of Parsival who had an unhealable wound
    corresponding to the woes of his land. cf Rand's side wound which is not
    Healable.

 5) Yin-Yang symbol/Ancient Aes Sedai symbol--He also spoke for quite
   some time on the splitting of the One Power into male and female
   halves, and on the disharmony produced when they don't work together..
   this came across as one of the core elements in the origin of WoT.
   [ re: Yin/Yang - leaving out the little dots in the
   symbol is an intentional representation of the lack of harmony between
   male/female Power in RandLand] <Emmet O'Brien, Dublin talk, 11/93>

 6) The sword forms: It's research (books, not doing), and the forms
come from Japanese swordfighting and some European fencing, before the
advent of well-designed and well-made guns made swords obsolete.  He
mentioned one book in particular, but I can't remember the title.
<matthew hunter at a signing, also mentioned by others>

7) Tolkien--The only deliberate connection between WoT and any other modern
fantasy was giving the first 100-odd pages of TEotW a Lord of the Rings-esque
flavor, to start people off in familiar territory." <from Dublin talk,
Emmet O'Brein>

8) Wolf-brother--a moosh of various myths from Europe, Native
Americans, and Australian Aborigines. <America OnLine conference, 10/94>

9) Stones/Go--The game of Stones is based on the Asian game Go.

10) Tower of Genjhei--There is a Japanese novel called
_The_Tale_of_Genji_.  It is generally considered the first piece of
work which qualifies as a novel, as the genre is defined today.  Note
the name's similarity to the Tower of Genjhei in tWoT.  It was written
by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century Japan.

11) Millenarianism (is this a word?): The End of The World will come
at the end of the millennium, or so some folks say. The year in
Randland is pretty much congruent with that used in the West of our
own world. Galldrian of Cairhien was assassinated in 998 NE. Since
then, one winter has passed (taking us to 999) and most of the next
year. The Feast of Lights that scandalized Perrin so much (in LoC)
marks the last day of the old year; the Battle at Dumai's Wells takes
place some days after that, and so must be early in 1000 NE. Tarmon
Gaidon is coming soon, folks! <Don Harlow>

 4.0================================TIME-LINE================================

>>(Still) Under Construction<<
>>Thank you for your patience<<
>>maybe I'll get to it over Christmas Break<<

 5.0==========================UNRESOLVED PLOT STUFF==========================

 <Jocelyn>
 Perhaps a list of all the plot threads currently being juggled would be a
 handy item to have in the FAQ, eh Pam? Help us keep up with things! :)

 okay, fine. here is a list of main plots under development,
 prophecies which have a direct bearing on them (for more prophecy, see
 the prophecy section.), certain unresolved questions, and other stuff
 that may occur, or may not.

 <from Tony Z.>
 I felt that the following might be interesting.  It's an extraction of
 material from GEnie (posted with poster's permission), listing all the
 loose ends and so forth that still need to be tied up,
 ---begin extract---{edited at my discretion--Pam}
 {"Marcus says:"}

 * Mat & the Daughter of the 9 Moons.

 * The Seanchan return has been in the background for 3 books now. It's gotta come
out in front sometime.

 * Perrin & Faile' marriage problems.

 * The Tower AS vs. the Salidar AS, and Rand getting them to swear to his side.

* Masema the Prophet needs to attended to.

 * Morgase's adventures in the Fortress of the Light, and Pedron Niall's various
   plots and plans.

 * There are still Shaido wandering around loose that might end up on the
 Dark One's side.

 * Anti-Rand rebels in Tear/Cairhien.

 * The tinkers and the way of the leaf (poss including the rebirth of the Nym)
  {possible finding of the Song, Perrin choosing Hammer/Axe--Pam}

 * Berelain's mysterious man in white

 * Rand and Elayne, Min, & Aviendha

 * Lan and Nynaeve & Valan Luca

 * Egwene's relationship w/ Gawyn.

 * (possibly) Cleansing the taint

 * Birgitte and Gaidal Cain

 * The rest of the heroes of the horn, the horn itself

 * The Sea Folk and their Coramoor

 * A woman using the awful big sa'angreal

 * Callandor, and this unknown more powerful sa'angreal (for men) {possibly may
not exist--Pam}
 ----

 <don't have the name, here.>
 * Don't forget to add Bayle Domon and Egeanin speeding off to drop the
 sad bracelets in the ocean.
 ---------
 <Pam Korda>

 * is Verin Black?

 * what happened to Moiraine & Lanfear in A/Eelfland?

 * Who killed JoaR? (sorry, couldn't resist :)

 * Thom & the Red Ajah, and whatever else was in Moiraine's letter

 * Padan Fain/Mordeth/Ordeith

 * Moghedien

 * possible re-appearance of Liandrin

 * Perrin & Slayer

 * Perrin's wolf vs. human internal conflict (possibly related to hammer/axe),
   and possible re-appearance of Elyas Machera

 * Aram, The Tinker with the Sword

 * The destruction of the Aiel

 * The rest of the Forsaken: Mesaana, Semirhage, Demandred, Graendal, Sammael

 * Mazrim Taim, and his likely betraying of Rand.

 6.0===========WHAT IS IT WITH THOSE STUPID DARRELL SWEET COVERS?============

 <Roy Navarre, Thomas Petersen, John Hansen, Joe Shaw, Erica Sadun,
  Pam Korda, Don Harlow, etc.>

 Patrick Nielsen Hayden ([e-mail]) wrote:
 : Darrell Sweet is a careful reader and an intelligent man who skillfully
 : paints what his clients ask him to paint; please don't blame him for the
 : decisions of others.

 Well, who can we blame for the cover fiasco, then?  :) -- Geoffrey Wiseman

 TEotW: THE GANG HEADS OFF TO TAREN FERRY

 1. Moiraine the Midget and  Moiraine's Horse the Dwarf Pony (The text refers
    to the lad being amazed at the sight of the huge horses (plural) ridden by
    Lan and Moiraine--the biggest he had ever seen.
 2. Moiraine's dress is supposed to be a darker blue than her cloak.
 3. Lan with a Mustache and Goatee?
 4. Lan in Seanchan armor?  Lan isn't wearing his color-fading cloak and
    instead is wearing plate mail.  Lan should not be wearing plate mail.
 5. Lan with TWO swords?
 6. Moiraine is really UGLY and is wearing White eye shadow to boot - ugh!
 7. Moiraine's hair is light brown--not dark.
 8. All the horses are wearing ornamental bridles/saddles-what nonsense!
 9. No saddle bags on any of the horses.
 10.Everyone is wearing particularly STUPID clothing -- Rand with that weird
    Robin Hood collar, Moiraine in that awful blue cloak, Perrin's
    feather!?, etc.
 11.Rand's face changes from the cover to the inside picture.
 12.Egwene on the outside cover is blond. (Everyone except Rand from 2 rivers
    has dark hair, dark eyes).
 13.The Draghkar is just a bat.
 14.The moon is portrayed with far too many degrees of arc for the sky.
 15.Thom (little itty bitty Thom) is wearing multicolored clothing but NOT
    a cloak!
 16.Perrin's ax (see inside picture) is the wrong shape. (See the description
    in the first chapter: two/halfmoon-blade counterweighted).
 17.Egwene's hair is wrong (should be braided), and so is Moiraine's (should
    be loose, not in that elaborate 'do).
 18.There's an extra guy in the party! Who is that fellow way at the end? Jain
    Farstrider? {M. Hunter, at a signing reports: "The covers aren't
    as bad as we thought they were.  The 'extra' character in TEotW really
    was in the book, but was cut out later, because he had too little to
    do.  His parts were distributed out to the other characters, but they
    never got around to cutting him from the cover.">

Timothy Bruening: On the front cover of tEotW, Moiraine is sitting
   crosslegged on a horse.  How does she stay on?
Patrick Nielsen Hayden: Remember all that glue we saved by not
   attaching the covers firmly enough? Well, it had to get used
   somewhere.


 TGH: RECAPTURING THE HORN

 1. Rand (changing his face again) is way way too short and stocky.  He is
    also wearing a really gaudy sword belt.  His hair, for some reason
    has gotten a lot of body (perhaps all that Clairol) and seems
    almost curly,and it is not red. His clothes are totally wrong, too.
    The sword is supposed to be curved, as is the Shadar Logoth dagger.

 2.   Loial's ears are not hairy, way too large and Loial himself is only about
    four feet tall!.  His boots are just awful: what if it rains?  He'd
    walk around with about a gallon or four of extra water in the
    decorative birdbaths of those boots.

 3. Selene (Lanfear) is wearing one of those dopey dresses -- this one
   with a ton of elastic banding.  Do they have elastic in the third
   age or is this another lost art of the Age of Legends. She is not very
   good looking.

 4.   Assuming that this is the scene where Rand steals back the horn from
   Fain, (a) where is the sniffer? (b) why isn't the horn in a box?
   (c) where is the (big enormous) box?  (d) why has Loial brought some
   pleasure reading for fighting off Trollocs (maybe its Dickens)
   (e) Why are the Trollocs humans with horns on their helmets? C'mon!
   (f) Why are Trollocs so short,  well armed and well armored? (g) Isn't
   it the wrong time of night to have just gotten the horn back
   anyway?

 [John Hansen adds:
   This can only be the scene where Rand steals back the horn.  When he and
   Loial arrive back at their camp, Rand sends Hurin off the "outcrop" to
   look at the activity down below.  The horn is in a large ornate gold chest
   that is strapped to the saddle of Loial's huge fetlocked horse.  Selene
   reaches up and opens the chest pushing the lid up and letting it fall open.
   On her tip-toes she reaches into the chest and Rand quickly reaches over her
   shoulder and lifts the horn out of the chest.  It is full night and the
   moonlight glimmers on the horn (which looks like it was drawn correctly).
   No Trollocs are anywhere near at this point.  After a moment Rand returns
   the horn to the chest and after further discussion about the curved dagger,
   he puts it in as well and closes the chest.  So, the scene (if accurate)
   should have a large horse and a gold chest in it.]


 TDR : RAND PULLS THE SWORD FROM THE AIR

 1. Rand (hair and face changed once AGAIN) is standing in the middle of a
     large hallway where Callandor hangs mid-air.  Isn't this just
     a little inconvenient?  What about dusting the sword or people
     wandering by every now and then?  Don't you think it deserves
     a room or a niche of its own rather than hanging in the middle
     of the hallway?{Actually, this is right. It is described as hanging
     right in the middle of the Heart.--Pam}
 2. Perrin (straight hair now, hair too light, held back in Rambo style
     but muscles correct) is holding yet ANOTHER ax -- this a little
     more correct. Mat in really sissy clothing and wrong hair is
     looking on as well.  Pardon me, but weren't these guys doing something
     else when Rand was picking up the sword?  Weren't Be'lal, Moiraine
     and Ba'alzamon on hand for the Young-Arthur imitation?
 3. The Aiel here look pretty classy, but the buckler in the book is strictly
     leather and not this copper stuff.  Also, this Aiel has black hair!
     C'mon: Perrin with light hair, Aiel with black hair and dark
     complexion?
 4. On the very side of the book is a picture of I suppose Ba'alzamon. Boy
     is he ugly or what?  And wearing that Blue and Purple hat?  I wonder
     what he had to do to pick out something that matched his glowing
     teeth so well.  Why would anyone's teeth glow?  Too much fluoride?


 TSR : BREAKFAST AT RHUIDEAN

 1. Rand's now wearing Perrin's headband and has tied his jacket to his
     shoulder. Boy that must be uncomfortable! And  must keep those
     orthopedic and reconstructive surgeons real busy.  He is again really
     way too short.
 2. Mat has picked up archery again along with a different face.  Archery?
 3. The peddlers seem to have stolen a tinker wagon.
 4. Who's the ugly babe making dinner?  Aviendha? Wrong hair.  Who else would
     wear a dress?  A blue dress?  NO! SAY IT ISN'T MOIRAINE!?!!!!
     Cooking dinner for the Boys?! Sheesh. (It could be Isendre but
     she is way way way too ugly for that).  Anyway, she looks like a
     monkey.
 5. Who's that leather guy on the left of the wagon?  Where did all that
     leather come from out there in the desert?  And check out the
     toy Trolloc that someone has stuck in the rocks above Rand's
     right hand shoulder.


 TFOH: FUN IN THE SUN AT CAEMLYN

 Erica S:
   Well look at TSR.  Mat & Rand seem to have switched roles again.
   At least Aviendha does look pretty pretty but her hair is way way
   too long.  What's the DEAL with the foxhead.  Only one eye please and
   about the size of the palm of the hand.  Worn against the skin too
   so we're not seeing it.  Rand is way too short and he's been at the
   Prell or VO5 again...  Mat does NOT have red or reddish hair.  EVERYONE
   (except Rand) from 2-rivers has dark eyes, dark hair.  Why are tricksters
   always supposed to have red hair?  Does Mr.Sweet ever read a book?

 Pam K:
   Of course the cover art is truly awful; although Mr. Sweet finally got the
   coats right-ish. Rhuidean doesn't look TOO bad; and the Trollocs actually
   look beast-ish, as opposed to men-with-horns-on-their-helmets (TGH). but,
   all the people look goofy, esp. Mat w/ his Clint Eastwood hat. Ah well, I
   suppose I can take the paper bit off. Back to reading!

 Jenny Foss:
   What is that hat Mat is wearing? He looks like Crocodile Dundee. "That's
   not a spear! THIS is a spear!"

LORD OF CHAOS--PASSION OF THE AES SEDAI

I looked at the cover of LoC in Locus.  I think it sucks. It looks like
a romance novel.  Passion of the _Aes Sedai_, or _Untamed Aiel_
or something.<David Wren-Hardin>

(1) The flying being in the upper right remains
  (a) a draghkar;
  (b) a pterodactyl;
  (c) Dracula
  (d) Seanchan flying-thing.
I would vote for (a), but, given the influence of _Jurassic Park_ this
past year, I would not reject (b) out of hand. {Note that whatever it was,
it was _not_ in the depicted scene--pam}

2) From this picture, we can conclude that Rand
  (a) plays fullback for the New York Jets (the team that Flash Gordon
      quarterbacked);
  (b) suffers from a mild case of acromegaly, brought on (like hair on
      the palms and premature blindness) by adolescent channeling
      ("Look, ma, no hands!") inspired by too many reruns of _Weird
      Science_;
  (c) is the offspring of a marriage not of Tigraine and Janduin but
      of Richard Kiel and David Warner.
  (d) Has yet another face, this time it is the face of Andre the Giant.

(3) The emblem on the back of the black cloak is obviously
  (a) a dragon having sex with the Daily Planet's world-globe;
  (b) a chapter icon, illegally copied by the Aiel and used on a
      commercial product (a cheap black cloak);
  (c) a mandala from _The Dao of Jordan_.
  (d) some sort of Deadhead sigil.
  (e) A Safeway symbol

4) The woman, one supposes, is one of the AS swearing an oath of
fealty to Rand. However, she looks more like she is sniffing and
calling him a wool-headed, hairy lummox of a man, thinking with the
hair on his chest, than like she is swearing eternal obedience.

5) Looking at the cover, I felt the title should have been "The Green Ajah's
Burning Desires" or something.  The way those two are looking at each
other I keep expecting to read about 'smoldering eyes' and 'throbbing
loins' and whatnot.<Julie Kangas>

It's not that.  It's that Rand is posed like Elvis.  Imagine a microphone
is his right (clenched) hand, and you can just see him waggling his
pelvis.  His facial expression even looks like he just said "uh-huh".
And Kiruna the Groupie is swooning over the King.<Keith Casner>

6) The back of the cover, however, is way cool, with all the dead guys
and burned wagons. Kudos to Sweet for that one. Tor Should've put that
one on front.
-----
 Tony Z:
   This whole cover art thing has been bothering me since I first lay eyes
   on the cover of TEotW.  Darrell K. Sweet had always been my favorite cover
   artist! He's done covers for the Lord of the Rings (2 different editions,
   both  which I liked), 2 editions of Thomas Covenant series (all 6), the
   second of which I thought were incredible; he's done all of Terry Brooks'
   stuff (I think--most of it anyway). My point is, what's with him?  I can
   hardly tell it's by the same guy! Does anyone know anything about him, and
   why his work is degenerating so?

 For more groovy D.K.Sweet cover art, check out some Piers Anthony
 books, L. E. Modesitt 's "Recluse" books, some Barbara Hambly books,
 some Pratchett books (US editions), The Riddlemaster of Hed books, the
 man is everywhere!

 7.0========================READERS GUIDE TO PROPHECY========================

 7.1..........................................................EGWENE'S DREAMS

 <TGH: 12, 213, Woven in the Pattern, 180>
     She saw Rand sleeping on the ground, wrapped in a cloak.  A woman
     had been standing over him, looking down.  Her face was in shadow,
     but her eyes seemed to shine like the moon, and Egwene had known
     she was evil.  Then there was a flash of light, and they were gone.
     Both of them.  And behind it all, almost like another thing
     altogether, was the feel of danger, as if a trap was just beginning
     to snap shut on an unsuspecting lamb, a trap with many jaws." <YES,
     this is where Lanfear takes Rand & Co into the Portal stone world
     in an attempt to bring Rand under her control>


 <TDR: 25, 290, Questions, 233-4>
     She had dreamed of Seanchan, too, of women in dresses with
     lightning bolts woven on their breasts, collaring a long line
     of women who wore Great Serpent rings, forcing them to call
     lightning against the White Tower.(NO)  That had started her
     awake in a cold sweat, but that had to be just a nightmare, too.
     And the dream about Whitecloaks binding her father's hands.
     (YES--Master Al'Vere was powerless to act against the WCs until
     Perrin came along)

 <TDR: 25, 290, Questions, 234>
     There had been a dream of Rand, reaching for a sword that
     seemed to be made of crystal, never seeing the fine net
     dropping over him.(YES-Callandor & Be'lal's trap)  And one
     of him kneeling in a chamber where a parched wind blew dust
     across the floor, and creatures like the one on the Dragon banner,
     but much smaller, floated on the wind, and settled into his skin.
     (YES--Rhuidean)  There had been a dream of him walking down into
     a great hole in a black mountain, a hole filled with a reddish
     glare as from vast fires below,(NO) and even a dream of him confronting
     Seanchan.(YES/NO--he confronted the Seanchan in TFOH after he & Avi
     MPS'd, but this is most likely not the last time)

 <TDR: 25, 290-1, Questions, 234>
     Perrin with a falcon on his shoulder, and Perrin with a hawk.
     Only the hawk held a leash in her talons--Egwene was somehow
     convinced both the hawk and falcon were female--and the hawk
     was trying to fasten it around Perrin's neck.(YES--Faile & Berelain:
     more to come)  That made her shiver even now; she did not like
     dreams about leashes.  And that dream of Perrin--with a beard!
     (YES)--leading a huge pack of wolves that stretched as far as
     the eye could see.(YES--@Dumai's wells, but probably not for the
     last time.)  Those about Mat had been even nastier.  Mat, placing
     his own left eye on a balance scale.(NO--cf "give up half the light
     of the world")  Mat, hanging by his neck from a tree limb.(YES--Rhuidean)
     There had been a dream of Mat and Seanchan too but she was willing
     to dismiss that as a nightmare.(NO)  It had to have been just
     a nightmare.  Just like the one about Mat speaking the Old
     Tongue.(YES--He does it all the time)  That had to come from what
     she had heard during his Healing.

 Survey Says:  Will Mat lose an eye?
     Yes: 79% (178)     No: 13% (28)     Undecided: 8% (17)

 <TDR: 37, 423, Fires in Cairhien, 352-3>
     She had dreamed of Perrin with a wolf, and with a falcon, and a
     hawk -- and the hawk and falcon fighting(YES--Faile & Berelain)
     ...of Perrin running from someone deadly,(SLAYER?) and Perrin
     stepping willingly over the edge of a towering cliff while saying,
    'It must be done.  I must learn to fly before I reach the bottom.'
     (Probably NO, but may refer to him mastering his wolf-brotherhood,
     or being a leader, or doing part in the Last Battle)  There had
     been one dream of an Aiel and she thought that had to do with Perrin
     too, but she was not sure.(YES--he freed Gaul from the cage in TDR)
     And a dream of Min, springing a steel trap but somehow walking through
     it without so much as seeing it.(YES--the Tower Coup: her return to the
     Tower started Elaida getting suspicious of what SS was up to, which led
     to the coup. Min never realized what was coming. Yet, she got out of the
     Tower unscathed.) ... Mat with dice spinning 'round him...(YES--his
     luck) Mat being followed by a man who was not there ... or maybe
     more than one, but in some way there was no one there(YES-Grey Man)...
     Mat riding desperately toward something unseen in the distance
     that he had to reach(YES-Going to save El/Eg/Ny in Tear), and Mat
     with a woman who seemed to be tossing fireworks about(YES-Aludra).
     An Illuminator, she assumed, but that made no more sense than
     anything else.  Men and women breaking out of a cage, then putting
     on crowns.(YES-Forsaken)  A woman playing with puppets, and another
     dream where the strings on puppets led to the hands of larger
     puppets, and their strings led to still greater puppets, on and
     on until the last strings vanished into unimaginable heights
     (probably just symbolic of the various degrees of manipulation
     and plotting going on).  Kings dying, queens weeping,
     battles raging.  Whitecloaks ravaging the Two Rivers(YES).  She had
     even dreamed of the Seanchan again.

 <TDR: 48, 553, Following the Craft, 468-9>
     Perrin with a falcon on his shoulder(YES), choosing between ax and
     hammer(NO); A Whitecloak putting Master Luhhan in the middle of a
     huge, toothed trap for bait(YES--The WCs used the Luhhans & Cauthons
     as bait to catch Perrin.); Mat dicing with the Dark One(YES),
     shouting "I am coming!" at her(YES); Rand sneaking through utter
     darkness toward Callandor, while all around him six men and five
     women walked, some hunting him and some ignoring him, some trying
     to guide him toward the shining crystal sword and some trying to
     stop him from reaching it, appearing not to know where he was, or
     only to see him in flashes(YES). One of the men had eyes of flame,
     and he wanted Rand dead with a desperation she could nearly taste;
     Rand in that dry, dusty chamber again, with those small creatures
     settling into his skin.(YES-Rhuidean)

 <TDR: 48, 553, Following the Craft, 468-9>
     Rand confronting a horde of Seanchan.(YES--in TFOH, but probably more to
     come)  Rand confronting her, and the women with her, and one of
     *them* was a Seanchan.(NO, probably to come when Rand wants the
     Salidar AS to kneel to him.)

 <TSR: 11, 207, What Lies Hidden, 145>
     Rand as tall as a mountain, walking through cities, crushing
     buildings beneath his feet, with screaming people like ants fleeing
     from him.(Not fulfilled literally, if symbolic, then in progress)
     Rand in chains, and it was he who was screaming.(Possibly
     his capture & torture by the Tower AS)  Rand building a wall with
     him on one side and her on the other, her and Elayne and others
     she could not make out.  "It has to be done," he was saying as he
     piled up stones.  "I'll not let you stop me now."(YES, Rand is becoming
     increasingly isolated from his friends and allies. Will he do something
      everybody else thinks is stupid, like break the seals?) Aiel
      fighting each other, killing each other, even throwing away their
     weapons and running as if they had gone mad(YES).  Mat wrestling
     with a Seanchan woman who tied an invisible leash to him(NO--The Dot9M?).
     A wolf - [Perrin] - fighting a man whose face kept changing(YES-Slayer).
     Galad wrapping himself in white as though putting on his own shroud
     (YES/No? White==Whitecloak. Shroud: will he die because of his decision
     to join the WCs), and Gawyn with eyes full of pain and hatred.
     (Possibly refers to the Tower Coup, or thinking Rand killed Morgase, or
      just his generally psychotic state.) Her mother weeping.

 <TFoH: 15, 300-1, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214>
     Rand sitting down in a chair, and somehow she knew that the
     chair's owner would be murderously angry at having her chair
     taken (YES--the Lion Throne of Andor...Perrin, lounging with
     Faile on his lap, kissing her while she played with the short-cut
     beard that he wore in the dream.  Behind them two banners waved,
     a red wolf's head and a crimson eagle.  A man in a bright yellow
     coat stood near to Perrin's shoulder, a sword strapped to his back;
     in some way she knew that he was a tinker, though no tinker would
     ever touch a  sword.   And every bit of it except the beard
     seemed important. The banners, Faile kissing Perrin, even the tinker.
     Every time he moved closer to Perrin it was if a chill of doom shot
     through everything. (YES/NO--Perrin is set up with Faile, has Aram as a
     bodyguard, has the wolf banner, and the Manetheren banner, but we haven't
     seen any doom related to Aram)...Mat throwing dice with blood
     streaming down his face, the wide brim of his hat pulled down low so
     she could not see his would(NO--Again, giving up 1/2 the light of the
     world), while Thom Merrilin put his hand into a fire to draw out the
     small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine's forehead. (NO)
     Or a dream of a storm, great dark clouds rolling
     without wind or rain while forked lightning bolts, every one
     identical, rent the earth. (This happened at the Battle of Cairhien)

 <LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258>
     Twice, right on top of each other, she dreamed of taking [Gawyn] by the
     shoulders and trying to turn him to face the other way against his will.
     Once he brushed her hands away roughly; the other time she was somehow
     stronger than he. The two blended together hazily. {NO. Will Eg convince
     Gawyn to join her on Rand's side, or will he continue to hate Rand over
     the chaos he's brought to his life? Related to Min's viewing of Gawyn
     kneeling to Eg or breaking her neck.}  In another, [Gawyn] began swinging
     a door closed on her, and she knew if that narrowing gap of light
     vanished, she was dead. {NO, again related to the above & Min's
     viewing--Gawyn has the power to destroy Eg, if he chooses not to
     join her.}

 <LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258>
     Perrin came and stood before her, a wolf lying at his feet, a hawk and a
     falcon perched on his shoulders glaring at each other over his head. {YES,
     ongoing.} Seemingly unaware of them, he kept trying to throw away that
     axe of his until finally he ran, the axe floating through the air chasing
     him. {??? Perrin wants to give up the axe, but he cannot. We have yet to
     decide what the axe symbolizes in general. I think maybe the Lordly life
     Faile has planned for him, and the fighting inherent therein?}  Again
     Perrin; he turned away from a Tinker and ran, faster and faster though
     she called for him to come back. {NO. Perrin and Aram's relationship
     doesn't seem to have degenerated so far. It's been suggested that Aram
      represents the exact opposite of what Perrin wants. P. wants to give up
     fighting for a peaceful life. Aram gave up the Way of the Leaf to become
     a soldier.}

 <LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258>
     Mat spoke words she almost understood - the Old Tongue, she thought{YES}
     - and two ravens alighted on his shoulders, claws sinking through his coat
     into the flesh beneath {NO?. probably has to do w/the Daughter of the 9
     Moons and the Seanchan. Raven tattoos on the shoulders mean
     "Property of the Seanchan Empress." These ravens could also represent
      Mat's raven-engraved glaive.} He seemed no more aware of them
     that Perrin had been on the hawk and the falcon, yet the defiance passed
     across his face, and the grim acceptance. {??? Maybe the ravens refer
     to his spear, which he got on his trip to
     A/Eelfland, where he also became a battle-master, which he first fought,
     and has now accepted?}  In another a woman, face shrouded in shadow,
     beckoned him toward great danger; Egwene did not know what, only that
     it was monstrous."{NO, I think.  Is this woman the Daughter of the Nine
     Moons?}

 <LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258>
     Several concerned Rand, not all bad, but all odd. Elayne, forcing him to
     his knees with one hand."{NO. Possibly concerning the throne of Andor, or
     being Bonded to her as a Warder?}  Elayne and Min and Aviendha, sitting
     in a silent circle around him, each in turn reaching out to lay a hand
     on him." {??? They've all had their turns to "lay their hands on him."
     Elayne in Tear, Aviendha in Seanchan Igloo, Min in Caemlyn/Cairhien}
     Him walking toward a burning mountain, something crunching beneath his
     boots.  She stirred and whimpered; the crunching things were the seals
     on the Dark One's prison, shattering with his every step." {NO. The
     Mountain is Shayol Ghul. The breaking of the Seals--does it have
     something to do with LTT wanting to break them, and Fel's note?}

 7.2...........................................................MIN'S VIEWINGS

 <TEotW: 15, 215-6, Strangers and Friends, 181>
 *LAN:  Seven ruined Towers/A babe in a cradle holding a sword(YES)

 *THOM: A man--not him--juggling fire/The White Tower(Uncertain.
     either of these could refer to his nephew Owyn, and the Tower
     could also represent future involvement with the AS)

 *MAT: A red eagle(YES-Something to do with his past life/lives as
       a Manetheren general)/A eye on a balance scale(NO-half the light
       of the world, again)/A dagger with a ruby(YES)/A horn(YES)
       /A laughing face(NO)

 *RAND A sword that isn't a sword (YES), A golden crown of laurel leaves (NO,
       But this is obviously the Laurel Crown of Illian),
       A beggars staff (NO), Him pouring water on sand(YES--Making it rain
       at Rhuidean.) Three woman standing over a funeral bier with him on
       it:(NO) A bloody hand and a white hot iron(NO) Black rock wet
       with blood:(NO--"his blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul")

 <TDR: 6, 99, The Hunt Begins, 62-3> and above.
 *PERRIN: A wolf(YES)/A broken crown(NO, but it has to do w/ his marriage
     to Faile. Maybe Faile is heir to the Saldaean throne?)/Trees flowering
     around him(Uncertain, poss. refers to Loial singing to the trees over
     Perrin's family's grave, or maybe he will find the Song)/
     An Aielman in a cage(YES)/A Tuatha'an with a sword(YES)/
     A falcon and a hawk, perching on his shoulders, both female.(YES)
     A darkness swirling around him.(Uncertain--poss. just meaning
     the shadow was chasing him, or maybe more specific--there are
     Darkfriends near to him? Maybe this is the same darkness Min sees
     around Rand and Perrin, with the fireflies? or maybe something else
     entirely)

 <TGH: 24, 362, New Friends and Old Enemies, 305> <TGH: 43, 605, A Plan, 511>
 *ELAYNE The Rose Crown of Andor(YES), A severed hand, not hers(NO),
     A red-hot iron and an ax.(NO)

 <TGH: 43, 605, A Plan, 511>
 *NYNAEVE: Man's ring of heavy gold.(YES, she has it, but no, she hasn't
     actually done anything with it besides carry it around.)

 <TGH: 24, 362, New Friends and Old Enemies, 305>
 *EGWENE A white flame(YES)

 <TSR: 17, 284, Deceptions, 198>
 *LOGAIN A halo of gold and blue, signifying glory to come.(May have to do
   with being un-stilled, but I think there is more to this.)

 <TSR:1, 25, Seeds of Shadow, 21> <TSR: 47, 786-7, The Truth of a Viewing, 544>
 *GAWYN A heron marked sword, his or threatening(uncertain. Threatening
     could refer to fighting Hammar & Coulin in the Tower Coup)/His banner
     with a field of green rather than white(YES-Younglings' banner)/
     Either breaking Egwene's neck or kneeling to her(NO)

 <TSR: 1, 18-21, Seeds of Shadow, 16-23>
 *RANDOM AES SEDAI IN WHITE TOWER:
     A silver collar, similar to, or actually, a damane's.(NO)
     [also lots of death and suffering/bones etc.referring to the
     Tower Coup]

 <TFoH: 26, 446, Sallie Daera, 317>
 *SHERIAM: "Rays of silver and blue flashed about her fiery hair,
     and a soft golden light; Min could not say what it meant."(maybe
      has to do w/ her being Keeper? Somehow related to Logain's gold
     & blue aura?)

 <TFoH: 26, 447, Sallie Daera, 317>
 *CARLINYA: "a raven floating beside her dark hair; more of a drawing of
     the bird than the bird itself.  She thought it was a tattoo..."(NO.
      tatoo==Property of Seanchan royalty.)

 <TFoH: 26, 452, Sallie Daera, 320>
 *EDESINA: "[...] a silvery collar suddenly appeared, snug around the
     woman's neck, and as suddenly seemed to shatter. Min shivered.
     She did not like viewings connected to the Seanchan.  At least
     Edesina would escape somehow."(NO, but Edesina is one of the AS sent
     to Tarabon, where the Seanchan are.)

 <TFoH: 28, 484, Trapped, 343>
 *SS/GARETH BRYNE:  'When Bryne came in, I had a viewing.  An aura, and
     a bull ripping roses from around its neck(YES--Bryne leaving Andor
     and Morgase), and ...  None of
     it matters except the aura.  I didn't even really understand that,
     but more than anything else.'  'How much did you understand?'
     'If you want to stay alive, you had better stay close to him.'
     Despite the heat, Min shivered.  She had only ever had one other
     viewing with an 'if' in it, and both had been potentially deadly.
     It was bad enough sometimes knowing what would happen; if she
     started knowing what might ...  'All I know is this.  If he
     stays close to you, you live.  If he gets too far away, for too
     long, you are going to die.  Both of you.  I don't know why I
     should have seen anything about you in his aura, but you seemed
     like part of it.'(NO)

 <TFoH: 50, 835, To Teach and Learn, 592>
 *FAOLAIN:  'A nasty woman,' Min murmured, squinting after Faolain ...
     'You'd think, if there was any justice, she would have an
     unpleasant future ahead of her.'(NO)

 <TFoH: 50, 844, To Teach, and Learn, 598-9>
 *MARIGAN, NICOLA, and AREINA:  (Three women refugees with Ny et al.)
     'Those three you brought with are trouble, and that is a viewing.'
     'I only caught glimpses of aura, and just out of the corner of my
     eye.  Never when I was looking right at them, where I might have
     made something out.'(YES,  Marigan was Moggy. Maybe the other two are
     the 2 BA Mog had with her.)

     Survey Says: Is Nicola one of the BA from Liandrin's group?
          Yes: 25% (56)     No: 42% (95)     Undecided: 25% (56)
     Survey Says: Is Ariena one of the BA from Liandrin's group?
          Yes: 24% (54)     No: 37% (85)     Undecided: 29% (66)

 <TFoH: 50, 844-5, To Teach, and Learn, 598-9>
 *RAND,ELAYNE, MIN, AVIENDHA:
     Elayne leaped off the cliff.  "Min, you had a viewing about Rand
     and me, didn't you?" [...]
     "Yes."  It was a wary word.
     "You saw that we were going to fall in love."
     "Not exactly.  I saw you'd fall in love with him.  I don't know
     what he feels for you, only that he's tied to you some way."
     [...] "And you saw there would be someone else.  Someone I'd have
     to ... share ... him with."
     "Two, "  Min said hoarsely.  "And .... And I'm one."
     [...] "Who is the third?"
     "I don't know," Min mumbled.  "Only that she has a temper.  Not
     Nynaeve."(YES--Avi)

 <LoC: 41, A Threat, 527>
 *RAND: Countless thousands of sparkling lights, like stars or fireflies,
     rushed into a great blackness, trying to fill it up, rushed in and were
     swallowed.  There seemed to be more lights than she had ever seen
     before, but the darkness swallowed them at a greater rate, too.[The
     general fight against the Shadow.]  And there was something else,
     something new, an aura of yellow and brown and purple that made her
     stomach clench.[Rand's injury at the hands of the Tower AS?]

 <LoC: 41, A Threat, 532>
 *RAND: "I saw an aura around you [Rand] in the throne room.  Aes Sedai are
     going to hurt you[YES].  Women who can channel, anyway.  It was all
     confused; I'm not sure about the Aes Sedai part.  But it might happen
     more than once." [Only happened once.  Will some non-AS channelers
     hurt him, now?  The Shaido Wise Ones?  The Seanchan?  The Sea Folk?
     The Sharans? Some Fosaken?]

 <LoC: 41, A Threat, 534>
 *MELAINE: 'You will have two daughters,' Min murmured. 'Twins like
     mirrors.'{NO, but she's pregnant.}

 <LoC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 578-9>
 *RAND and PERRIN: "When you two were together, I saw those fireflies and the
     darkness stronger than ever.... But with two of you in the same room,
     the fireflies were holding their own instead of being eaten faster than
     they can swarm, the way they do when you're alone." {Just a general idea,
     not a definite event. cf the "sparks" Min sees in the inn in Baerlon.}
     "Twice he's going to have to be there, or you [Rand]...." "If he's not,
     something bad will happen to you." "Very bad." Rand: "Then I'll just
     have to keep him around." Min: "I don't know that that will be enough,
     it _will_ happen if he is not there, but nothing I saw said it won't
     because he is. It will be very bad, Rand. Just thinking of that viewing
     makes me...."{??? Once was probably the capture by the AS, the second
     hasn't yet happened, for sure.}

 <LoC: 50, Thorns, 626>
 *MISC. NOBLES: "Maringil...was going to die by poison.(YES)  Colavaere...
    would die by hanging.(NOT YET, but she's scheduled to)
    Meilan...would die by the knife.(YES)
    ...Aracome and Maraconn and Gueyam were all going to die too, bloody
    deaths, in battle.(NO)

 <LoC: 50, Thorns, 628>
 *BERELAIN: "a man in white who will make her fall head over heels." {NO.
     Who is it? A Whitecloak? Galad? A Gai'shan? (Rhuarc gets gai'shan-ed
     and Berelain falls in love with him?)}

Survey says: Berelain's man in white is:
     Galad: 63% (140)     A Gai'shain:  2% (5)     Perrin: 1% (1)
     Rhuarc: 4%   (8)     A Whitecloak: 1% (2)

 7.3.......................................................VARIOUS PROPHECIES

 <TEotW: prologue, xv, Dragonmount, xv>
     O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One
     be born of the mountain(YES), according to the prophecies, as he
     was in ages past and will be in ages to come.  Let the Prince of
     the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the
     valleys give forth lambs.  Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn
     shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend
     us.  Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.(NO)

 The prophecy for the Horn of Valere:
 <TEotW: 26, 389, Whitebridge, 327>
     In the last, lorn fight {Tarmon Gaidon}
     'gainst the fall of long night, {Victory of the DO}
     the mountains stand guard, {??? The Mountains of Dhoom?}
     and the dead shall be ward,
     for the grave is no bar to my call. {Heroes will fight against the
      Shadow at the Last Battle} (NO)

 Elaida's Foretelling:
 <TEOTW: 40, 614, The Web Tightens, 514>
     'This I Foretell...and swear under the Light that I can say no
     clearer. From this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The
     Shadow has yet to darken to its blackest, and I cannot see if the
     Light will come after. Where the world has wept one tear, it will
     weep thousands....This, too, I Foretell. Pain and division come to
     the whole world, and this man [Rand] stands at the heart of it.'(YES)

 <TDR: Trailer Prophesy, 675, 578>
     And it was written that no hand but his should wield the Sword
     held in the Stone, but he did draw it out, like fire in his
     hand, and his glory did burn the world. Thus did it begin. Thus
     do we sing his Rebirth. Thus do we sing the beginning.(YES)

 <TSR: 15, 253, Into the Doorway, 177>
 ANSWERS TO MAT'S QUESTIONS:   [What fate?]
     To marry the Daughter of the Nine moons.(NO)
     To die and live again, and live once more a part of what was.(YES)
     To give up half the light of the world to save the world.(NO)

Survey Says: What does giving up 1/2 the light of the world mean?
     He loses an eye:                       78% (174)
     The OP won't work in the next Age:      2%   (5)
     Something involving Mayenne & lamp oil: 1%   (2)

 _Coramoor_ (Jendai Prophecy):
 <TSR: 19, 315-6, The Wavedancer, 220-1>
     He can wield the One Power ... and he holds the Sword That Cannot
     Be Touched.  The Aiel have come over the Dragonwall to his call.
     ... The Stone of Tear has fallen, and war breaks over the nations
     of the land.  Those who once ruled have returned, and been driven
     back for the first time. ... The White Tower shall be broken by
     his name(YES), and Aes Sedai shall kneel (YES) to wash his feet and dry
     them with their hair.(NO--icky. Note that the foot-washing thing happens
      in the Amyrlin Seat induction ceremony)

 Wise One Dreaming:
 <TSR: 23, 385, Beyond the Stone, 270>
 (Moiraine, Melaine, and Seana in conversation on Chaendaer)
     "We did not see Egwene or Mat Cauthon at all. It was no more than
     an even chance that the young man who calls himself Rand Al'Thor
     would come.  If he did not, it was certain that he would die, and
     the Aiel too.(ONGOING)  Yet he has come, and if he survives
     Rhuidean, some of the Aiel at least will survive. This we know.
     If you(Moiraine) had not come, he would have died(YES-she saved him
      from Lanfear at the Docks in TFOH). If Aan'allein had not come,
     you would have died(???). If you did not go through the rings..."

 From Rhuidean:
 <TSR: 25, 408, The Road to the Spear, 285-6>
     The stone that never falls will fall to announce his coming.(YES)
     Of the blood(YES), but not raised by the blood(YES), he will come from
     Rhuidean at dawn(YES), and tie you together with bonds you cannot
     break(I GUESS SO...).  He will take you back(YES), and he will
     destroy you(YES, BUT MORE TO COME).

 <TSR: 24, 402, Rhuidean, 281-2>
 MAT'S WISHES:  Holes in memory restored/a way to be free of Aes Sedai
     and the Power/Away and back to Rhuidean(YES to all)

 <LoC: Header Prophecy>
     The lions sing and the hills take flight.
     The moon by day, and the sun by night.
     Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
     Let the Lord of Chaos rule. {your guess is as good as mine as to whether
    this is actually prophecy or no}

 <LoC: 14, Dreams and Nightmares, 255>
 *NICOLA'S FORETELLING:  "The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees
     beyond.(YES? El, Avi, and Min--do they have something special to do?)
     Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives."{??? I have yet to
     hear a satisfactory explanation of this one, although it resonates with
     the WOs boat dream, and the King-Arthur funeral deal in one of Min's
     vision}  The great battle done, but the world not done with
     battle.{??? perhaps the Last Battle, yet the struggle between the Shadow
     and the Light continues? There'll be more fighting after Tarmon Gaidon?
     There'll be a big battle BEFORE Tarmon Gaidon?} The land divided by
     the return {NO. "return" could be the Seanchan Corenne, or the Return
     of the Great Lord, as spoken of by DFs} and the guardians balance
     out the servants.{YES, the Asha'man and the Aes Sedai.} The
     future teeters on the edge of a  blade{metaphorical melodramatics
     --this war is crucial}."

Survey Says: Does "Land split by Return" refer to the Seanchan?
     Yes: 80%     No: 9%     Undecided: 8% (18)

 <LoC: 19, Matters of Toh, 312>
     Wise Ones Dreams: "Melaine and Bair dreamed of you on a boat with
     three women whose faces they could not see{??? something to do with
     Min, El, and Avi}, and a scale tilting first one way and then the
     other."{YES--everything seems up in the air now. Rand might win, the
     Shadow might, who knows?} Melaine and Amys dreamed of a man standing
     by your side with a dagger to your throat, but you did not see him.
     {??? Poss a Grey Man, Poss. refers to Taim?} Bair and Amys dreamed
     of you cutting the wetlands in two with a sword. {YES--Randland is
     polarizing into pro- and anti- Dragon factions. there will soon be
     no sitting on the fence.} All three had this dream, which makes it
     especially significant. Rain, coming from a bowl. There are snares
     and pitfalls around the bowl. {NO, but this is obviously the bowl
     ter'angreal El & Ny are looking for} If the right hands pick it up,
     they will find a treasure perhaps as great as the bowl. {NO.
     Maybe there is something else in the bowl room? Angreal, etc?}  If
     the wrong hands, the world is doomed. {Well, duh.} "The key to
     finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer."{NO--???}

Survey says: Who is the one who is no longer?
     Moiraine: 25% (56)    LTT:             4% (8)    Green Man: 2% (4)
     Luc:       7% (15)    Runaway novice:  4% (8)    Corianin:  1% (3)
     Mat:       4%  (4)    Jain Farstrider: 2% (5)    Shemerin:  1% (3)

 <LoC: 26, Connecting Lines, 373>
     Behind the Red Door (in Tear): "He [Rand] knew he had a chance to live,
     if a seemingly impossible one.  _If_you_would_live_, _you_must_die_."
     {NO. Maybe means "if you would live future lives, you must die
     (physically) in this one.  cf LTT's wanting to die for good, never be
     spun out again.<LoC: 18, A Taste of Solitude, 299>. Or, Rand will die,
     but will get resurrected.}

Survey says: Rand will
     Die and come back:  46% (102)     Not die, not even fake it: 14% (31)
     Die and stay dead:  27%  (61)     Fake his death:             4% (10)


7.4........................................................THE DARK PROPHECY
 This may not be actual prophecy. See Verin's commentary <TGH: 7, ?,
    Blood Calls Blood, 90>. Some may be prophetic, and others may just be
    Shadow propaganda. It is a source of information, though, so here it is.

 <TGH: 7, 105-6, Blood Calls Blood, 89>
     Daughter of the Night, she walks again.(YES)
     The ancient war, she yet fights.(YES)
     Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her(DOUBTFUL) and
          die(NOT YET), yet serve still.
     Who shall stand against her coming?
     The Shining Walls shall kneel.(NO, not yet)
     Blood feeds blood.
     Blood calls blood.
     Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be.

     The man who channels stands alone.
     He gives his friends for sacrifice.
     Two roads before him, one to death beyond dying, one to life eternal.
     Which will he choose?  Which will he choose?
     What hand shelters?  What hand slays?

     Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.
     Isam waited in the high passes.
     The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.
     One did live, and one did die, but both still are.
     The Time of Change has come.(YES TO ALL)

     The Watchers wait on Toman Head.
     The seed of the Hammer burns the ancient tree.(YES: Tree is symbol
                                    of  Tarabon)
     Death shall sow, and summer burn(YES: the current draught), before
          the Great Lord comes.
     Death shall reap, and bodies fail (will there be a plague?), before
          the Great Lord comes.
     Again the seed slays ancient wrong, before the Great Lord comes.
     Now the Great Lord comes.(YES)

 7.5....................................................THE KARAETHON CYCLE

<TGH Header Prophecy>
          And it shall come to pass that what men made  shall be shattered,
     and the Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the DO shall
     once more lay his hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men
     quail as the nations of the earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither
     shall anything stand nor abide...
          Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow...and there shall be
     wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth.(YES) In sackcloth and ashes
     shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his
     coming, tearing apart all ties that bind. (YES) Like the unfettered
     dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn
     confront the Shadow at the Last Battle(NO), and his blood shall
     give us the Light(NO. cf "his blood on the rocks of SG, and Min's vision
     of blood on black rocks). Let tears flow, O  ye people of the world.
     Weep for your salvation.

Survey Says: Rand will break the world:
     Figuratively and physically: 52% (116)
     Figuratively:                42%  (95)
     Physically:                   1%   (2)

 <TGH: 22, 328, Watchers, 275>
 Vandene talking to Moiraine:
     'Five ride forth, and four return.(YES) Above the watchers shall
     he proclaim himself, bannered cross the sky in fire...'(YES: the 5 who
      rode forth were Ingtar, Hurin, Rand, Mat, & Perrin. Rand proclaimed
     himself the DR after the battle at Falme, where he and Ish fought in
     the sky.)

 <TGH: 26, 387, Discord, 325-6> <TSR: 9, 180, Decisions, 126>
 Thom to Rand:
     Twice and twice shall he be marked,YES)
     twice to live, and twice to die,(maybe Rand & LTT?)
     Once the heron to set his path. (YES: Portal Stone World)
     Twice the heron, to name him true.(YES: Falme)
     Once the Dragon for remembrance lost.(YES: Rhuidean)
     Twice the Dragon for the price he must pay .(he has been paying,
         but will there be a Real Big Price, i.e. his life & his blood?)

 <TGH: 26, 387, Discord, 326>
 Thom to Rand:
     Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed.
     Once for mourning, once for birth.
     Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul.
     In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow.(NO,)

 Survey says:
Will there be an eclipse when Rand spills his blood?
     Yes: 58% (129)      No: 19% (42)     Undecided: 20% (45)
Rand "spilling his blood" refers to:
    the blood of Rand, literally: 62% (139)    Galad's blood:      6% (14)
    the blood of the Aiel:        14%  (31)    Aviendha's child's: 2% (5)

 <TDR: 6, 93, The Hunt Begins, 57>
 Moiraine in conversation:
     He has yet to break the nations(YES), or shatter the world.  Even
     scholars who have studied the Prophecies for their entire lives
     do not know how to interpret them all. What does it mean that
     he shall 'slay his people people with the sword of peace, and
     destroy them with the leaf'(YES: Rhuidean)? What does it mean that he
     shall bind the nine moons to serve him?(NO, something to do with
      the Seanchan.)  Yet these are given equal weight with Callandor
     in the Cycle.  There are others. What 'wound of madness and cutting
     of hope' has he healed?(NO--possible reference to healing the Taint?)
     What chains has he broken(possibly chains binding people to the
     Shadow--Ingtar, Asmodean, Tear, Andor), and who put into chains?
     (Asmodean, maybe? or all the nations he is binding to follow him?)

Survey Says: Will the Taint be cleansed from Saidin?
     Yes: 85% (190)     No: 4% (10)     Undecided: 9% (20)

 <TDR: Header Prophesy, ix, ix>
     And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his
     name, for he shall be born among us many times, in
     many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time
     without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of
     the plow, turning our lives in furrows from out of the
     places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of bonds;
     the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper
     of destiny.(General Prophesy, no real judgment needed)

<TDR: 41, 445, Threads in the Pattern>
"On the slopes of Dragonmount shall he be born, born of a maiden
wedded to no man. " (YES)

 <TSR: 3, 99, Reflection, 71>
     His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, washing away
     the Shadow, sacrifice for man's salvation.(NO)

 Survey Says:  Will Rand Die?
     No: 17         Yes: 67 (stay dead: 32, resurrected: 35)

 <TSR: 6, 131, Doorways, 93>
     Power of the Shadow made human flesh,(poss. Forsaken, Fain, Slayer, or
        the Bubble of evil at the start of TSR?)
     wakened to turmoil, strife and ruin.
     The Reborn One, marked and bleeding,
     dances the sword in dreams and mist,(this could be a reference to the
                    mirror incident in the Stone in TSR)
     chains the Shadowsworn to his will,(YES)
     from the city, lost and forsaken,
     leads the spears to war once more,(YES)
     breaks the spears and makes them see,
     truth long hidden in the ancient dream.(YES)

 <TSR: 21, 349, Into the Heart, 244>
     Into the heart he thrusts his sword,
     into the heart, to hold their hearts.(YES)
     Who draws it out shall follow after,
     What hand can grasp that fearful blade?(NO)

<TFOH: Header Prophecy>
     With his coming are the dread fires born again. The hills burn, and the
     land turns sere. (YES: the draught) The tides of men run out,
     and the hours dwindle. The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting
     raised.(The DO breaking loose? This phrase calls to mind a phrase from
     the Bible. See section 3.) Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and
     the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without
     destruction, no hope this side of death.

<LoC: Trailer Prophecy>
     The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign.(YES)
     The seas rage, and stormclouds gather unseen. Beyond the horizon, hidden
     fires swell, and serpents nestle in the bosom. {Something is rotten in
     Randland. People are not what they seem. All is not well.) What was
     exalted is cast down; what was cast down is raised up. (??? the AS
     and male channellers, respectively?) Order burns to clear his path.

 7.6..........................................................PERRIN'S DREAMS

 <TDR: 43, 504, Shadowbrothers, 426>
     Egwene and Nynaeve and Elayne stood looking at a huge metal cage,
     with a raised door held on a heavy spring.  They stepped in and
     reached up together to loose the catch.  The barred door snapped
     down behind them.  A woman with her hair all in braids laughed
     at them, and another woman all in white laughed at her.(YES: the
     Tairen adventure in TDR)

 <TDR: 43, 504, Shadowbrothers, 425>
     Mat, rattling a dice cup. His opponent stared at Mat with eyes
     of fire.  Mat did not seem to see the man, but Perrin knew him.
     "Mat!" he shouted. "It's Ba'alzamon. Light, Mat, you're dicing
     with Ba'alzamon!"(YES)

 <TSR: 28, 458, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 320-1>
     Rand stood amid swirling stormwinds, laughing wildly, even madly,
     arms upraised, and on the winds rode [dragons](NO, unless this is
      a ref to Rhuidean.); hidden eyes watched Rand, and there was no
     way of telling whether he knew it (possibly general--all the
     people watching Rand, e.g. Forsaken, Wise Ones, AS, etc. or maybe
     something more specific that we do not know about); Nynaeve and
     Elayne stalking cautiously through a demented landscape of twisted,
     shadowed buildings, hunting some dangerous beast(YES: Tanchico. cf
     the way Tanchico looks to Egwene in TAR).  Mat, standing
     where a road forked ahead of him. He flipped a coin(YES--
     flipped a coin at the Portal Stone,
     to get to Rhuidean), started down one branch, and suddenly was
     wearing a wide-brimmed hat and walking with a staff bearing a
     short sword blade(YES).  Egwene and a woman with long white hair
     (Amys--probably not prophetic, but a chance meeting in TAR) were
     staring at him in surprise while behind them the
     White Tower crumbled stone by stone.(YES, but will it be destroyed
     further?)

 <TSR: 53, 882, The Price of a Departure, 612>
     Egwene stood among a crowd of women, fear in her eyes; slowly the
     women knelt around her, Nynaeve was one of them, and he believed
     he saw Elayne's red-gold hair.(YES)  That window faded and was
     replaced.  Mat stood naked and bound, snarling; an odd spear with
     a black shaft had been thrust across his back behind his elbows,
     and a silver medallion, a foxhead, hung on his chest.(??? Maybe
     the incident in *finnland that got him hung, or maybe something
      yet to come.)  Mat vanished, and it was Rand.  Perrin thought
     it was Rand.  He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage
     covered his eyes.(NO)


7.7..................................................FOURTH AGE HISTORIES

<TEOTW: prologue, xv, Dragonmount, xv>
And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would
come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land an weighed down the
hearts of men, and the green things failed(YES), and hope died. And
men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of
the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain(YES),
according to the prophecies, as he was in ages past and will be in
ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that
green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs(NO). Let the
arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great
sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of
time. (from _Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon._
Author unknown, the Fourth Age)


 99.0===========================PUBLISHING STUFF=============================

 99.1...........................................HOW MANY BOOKS WILL THERE BE?

 However many RJ writes. 3 or 4 more after LOC is what he said at a
signing in Atlanta.

 99.2..............................................WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK OUT?

Book 7 will be entitled _Crown of Swords_.

P Nielsen Hayden writes, "So it doesn't come as a rude shock later
this year, it should probably be confirmed here that, yes, Crown of
Swords will appear no earlier than the first couple of months of 1996.
It certainly won't be published in the fall slot previously used for
Jordan titles.

"The problem is pretty simple.  We've been publishing Wheel of Time books
about every twelve months, but it takes Jordan about fourteen months to
write each one.  You can do this for a while, but eventually the
precession catches up with you.  It may interest readers of this group to
know that the manuscript of Lord of Chaos was delivered roughly five weeks
before we shipped bound books.

"Obviously, we need to put some more slack into the system, and we're doing
so by delaying the next one a season."

So that is 3 or 4 extra months, kids.

[LOC Paperback]

>From past experience I'd guess that LOC should be out in PB sometime
in the autumn of 1995.

[Other stuff]

"Also, Jody Lynn Nye, Todd Cameron Hamilton, et. al., are hard at work
on a compendium, "Guide to the Wheel of Time."  They have already
produced similar books for Anne McCaffrey's Pern & Piers Anthony's
Xanth. _The Guide to the Wheel of Time_ is scheduled to be released
with the paperback of _Lord of Chaos_ sometime next fall." <Roxanne Meida>


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